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‘New England Cooks’ - Where the audience eats it up

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Cream soup of White Asparagus "Spargelcremesuppe" 1 pound of white asparagus 1 quart water 1 slice of lemon 1 cup heavy cream 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon flour salt & white pepper bouillon powder for taste pinch of sugar chopped parsley for garnish You must peel the white asparagus and trim the more fibrous butt ends. Trim off 1/2 inch from butts of asparagus. Then, with spears laying on a cutting board, using a vegetable peeler, peel off thin skin starting 1-1/2 inches from the top of each spear. Place all peelings and trimmings in a soup pot with 1 quart of water, slice of lemon and a pinch of sugar. Bring the liquid to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for another 15 minutes. Strain the asparagus stock into a shallow large sauté pan. Place all the peeled asparagus in the pan with the stock and simmer asparagus for about 10 minutes until asparagus is soft. Lift asparagus into a plate and let asparagus and stock cool. Melt butter in a medium-size soup pot over medium heat, stir in flour and make a roux. Deglaze with the asparagus stock and season with pinch of bouillon powder, salt and white pepper. Add the heavy cream and simmer the soup for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cut asparagus up into small pieces. Add the asparagus pieces to the soup and serve with some fresh chopped parsley. Serves 4

By Patrick Timothy Mullikin Correspondent

04.15.08

Barre - ‘What else are you going to do in Barre on a Thursday?” host Tony Campos asks, tongue-in-cheek, as members of the studio audience, each of whom has paid $15, begin wandering in. The studio capacity is 60, and this night, like most, all seats are taken.

It’s an unseasonably warm evening, and many of the regulars, their wine bottles uncorked, have been hunkered down in their folding chairs for quite some time. It’s BYOB at the taping of New England Cooks at its 386 North Main St. studio in Barre.

Think of the wine as a lubricant for laughter, not that it’s needed.

Campos and co-host Carol Day have been working together for years and have their routine down pat: She’s the straight woman, and he’s the clown. Think Burns and Allen but in reverse. They both serve as sous chefs to the show’s guest chef de jour.

Day asks the questions and handles the lion’s share of food prep work; Campos provides the banter, sight gags and is assigned the easier tasks. (He also keeps an eagle eye on the clock and keeps the show rolling along.) The chefs — of all walks of life, locations and thresholds of pain — are tasked with preparing a multi-course meal before the live studio audience in roughly an hour’s time in the midst of Campos’ and Day’s continuous shtick.

This is vaudeville at its best, complete with a gourmet meal that is shared with the audience and stage crew after the show is taped.

Tonight’s show has a distinct Austrian feel and flavor. Selections from “The Sound of Music” soundtrack serve as background music as Campos makes a joke about lederhosen. The featured chef is Trapp Family Lodge executive chef Juergen Spagolla who bears a striking resemblance to both Bob Newhart and Anthony Hopkins (”The Silence of the Lambs” connection is a little unnerving).

Chef Juergen (why do chefs go by their first names?) has come armed with three varieties of asparagus. “Since it’s been a long winter, I’m bringing some springy items.” He explains that it’s asparagus season in Europe, and tonight’s menu – a good portion has been prepared at the Trapp kitchen, though he does prepare all the same items, time permitting, live on air – includes cream soup of white asparagus (Spargelcremesuppe), white asparagus and crab salad (Spargelsalat mit Crabbenfleish), papardelle with shrimp and zucchini, and strawberry dumplings.

Day is tasked with peeling the fibrous white asparagus while Campos makes the roux for the soup.

Chef Juergen, it turns out, is a consummate showman. He holds his own with his two foils. With his clipped delivery, slow-burns and well-timed zingers he has the audience howling.

“I like to use white pepper, so it doesn’t look like sand in your soup,” he says as he and Tony add the final touches to the Spargelcremesuppe.

Following the first commercial break, Chef Juergen begins the salad. Campos is in charge of preparing the dressing, a chore he accepts with a rolling of his eyes. Day slices a giant English cucumber with a giant knife. The audience eats it up. A search for an opener for the can of crab meat nets an ancient and barely operable manual opener.

“This came over on the boat,” Chef Juergen remarks as he’s handed the rusty antique.

“You guys having fun?” Campos asks the audience during a commercial break at the halfway mark. He leads them in a sing-along of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Do-Re-Mi” as Chef Juergen gets the materials ready for the main course: the zucchini and shrimp dish. Back on the air, Day slices zucchini while Campos slices prosciutto into thin strips. He pops a few pieces in his mouth – for the audience’s sake.

As the mixture begins to cook, a buttery/garlicky aroma wafts into the audience. This gets the biggest “ooooh” of the night.

“I saw on one of your prior shows that you like to eat,” Chef Juergen says to Day, who takes his remark with a grain of salt. Day is preparing dough for the evening’s final event: quark (a type of cheese) dumplings with strawberry cream. “In Austria, we make dumplings out of everything,” he explains.

Campos checks the clock. The cooking segment is running over and is cutting into Ed Schwarz’s wine pairing portion of New England Cooks. Schwarz, who owns Fine Wine Cellars in Stowe, closes each show by suggesting a wine or wines that would go best with the evening’s fare. Tonight’s wine verdict: a Grenache Blanc and a Rose Pinot.

It’s a wrap.

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