Thailand Meets Tres Leches

Our producer, Bruce, is taking us... to a fabulous new ice-cream shop.

Could you explain how all this works?

We walked in, the place was beautiful, but there was no ice cream.

Where's the ice cream?

Are you ladies ready to give it a try?

Oh, absolutely!

I can't wait.

Marilynn: I don't think this is going so well.

Look at those pies!

This is like--you've heard of an art gallery.

This is a pie gallery.

Owner: Oh, absolutely!

We're gonna make some tres leches cupcakes.

You ready?

Yeah!

Well, hi, Brass sisters.

Ha ha!

Marilynn: Am I gonna get into my groove?

Man: Yeah.

I'm sort of doing a geriatric salsa.

Marilynn, voice-over: I just feel that life is a party.

I am the queen of shimmy!

♪ Shimmy ♪ ♪ Shimmy ♪ I'm too hot to handle.

[Laughter] Marilynn: We're the Brass sisters.

We have over 130 years combined cooking experience.

Sheila: But there are still so many things we've never tried.

Marilynn: So we're off on an adventure to tackle our culinary bucket list.

Sheila: And mash up recipes in our kitchen along the way.

Marilynn: We love food.

We love people.

Sheila: Yes.

We do.

Marilynn: And, most of all, we love to flirt our way into kitchens.

Sheila: "Let the games begin," is what we say.

We love ice cream.

There are no bones about that, although there are no bones in... ice cream.

ice cream anyway.

We have a bucket list.

And one of the items on our bucket list is to find new ways to make ice cream.

We also love the history of ice cream.

Now, do you know where ice cream originated, Sheila?

Perhaps in Greece.

Well, you are right about that.

They poured fruit and honey over snow.

And I bet it was delicious.

It was!

I was there.

Marilynn: Our producer, Bruce, is taking us to a fabulous new ice-cream shop called [pronounced "Bear"] Hi B3ar, where they're doing unbelievable things.

They even use a griddle.

A girdle?

That sounds uncomfortable.

A griddle!

You know, I just try to put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4.

Look at that.

Look at the menu.

Sheila: Wow!

Marilynn: There were such intriguing names for the ice cream.

Evil Berry.

Sheila: Mango Tango.

Matcha green tea.

And First Kiss.

Can you recall your first kiss?

There were many first kisses.

Well, my first real kiss was when I was about 26.

It was Bill.

I never liked him.

Well, I never liked your Bill either.

Hi, guys.

Welcome to Hi B3ar.

Marilynn: Could you explain how all this works?

Sure... We walked in, the place was beautiful, and there were all these toppings, but there was no ice cream.

Where's the ice cream?

William: So, basically, imagine when you're cooking, like, at home and you're using, like, a hot pan, right?

So this one is basically like the cold pan.

And this thing is around -15 Fahrenheit.

Sheila: That's cold.

Yeah, it is.

After you pick the flavor, we put all the ingredients on the pan, and we chop it up.

When William started the process, he really knew what he was doing.

It was as if he were conducting a symphony.

[Music playing on soundtrack] Marilynn: There was no wasted movement on William's part.

And then when he started rolling the ice cream, it looked like a rose.

It was just beautiful.

I've never seen anything like it before.

Sheila: You have real skills.

I bet you're a big hit with the ladies.

[Sheila laughs] Marilynn: It was a brand-new ice-cream experience.

But what I think we haven't said, the ice cream was delicious.

Mmm!

Fabulous.

Marilynn, voice-over: And, of course, our producer, Bruce, wanted in on some of the action.

You scream...

I scream...

Both: We all scream for ice cream!

Yeah.

Don't scream too loud.

It hurts my ears.

Are you ladies ready to give it a try?

Oh, absolutely!

I can't wait.

I don't suppose we could try First Kiss.

You are so naughty.

William, my sister is a big flirt.

You better be careful.

I will.

OK, let's get started.

So, first up, you're gonna take one of the crackers.

Put your crackers in the middle of the pan.

OK. Now we should-- Now, we're doing First Kiss.

William: Yeah.

Marilynn: Oh, that looks like fun.

William: So you put a strawberry onto the crackers.

Yeah.

OK.

The final step, just put on the ice cream mix.

Put it on the strawberry.

So far, so good.

Yeah.

Yes.

Right now, take out a spatula.

At the same time?

Yeah.

The same time.

Just chop them into... Marilynn: Get that rhythm.

Sheila, voice-over: It was like a hibachi restaurant.

Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop... William: Left hand, right hand.

And try to flow everything together.

You got it?

Sheila, voice-over: Unfortunately, as much as I chopped, it didn't work.

Do you want me to help you?

I don't think this is going so well.

Sheila, voice-over: I was nervous.

It was my First Kiss.

And you choked.

I think William should help you.

Yeah.

I'll take a little help.

I think that was a good try.

Yeah, this one is not gonna work since, um... And then I tried my hand at it.

You have to chop each piece of fruit separately.

William: Don't worry about the mix first.

Just chop all the ingredients.

Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop.

William: Can you make it faster?

And I must say I was proud of my first effort.

Fabulous!

You know, you put me to shame.

Just really try to push it.

Marilynn: Wow!

Yup.

Man: Bravo!

Ah!

Yeah.

Not bad.

Marilynn: It actually was rolled ice cream.

And then Sheila went right back into the ring.

I would love to have another chance.

Marilynn made it look so easy.

You made it look so easy.

Yeah.

I'd like to make a Mango Tango.

Go, Sheila!

Sheila, voice-over: I relaxed the second time, and I really enjoyed it.

I'm glad.

And the thrill when I started to roll those up... Look!

I never thought I'd be able to.

I'm proud of you that you tried again.

William: Hey, you got it.

You got it.

Sheila, voice-over: William taught us how to make the Mango Tango.

So it was only fair for us to return the favor.

William, thank you for teaching us how to make Mango Tango.

No problem.

We'd like to teach you something.

The real tango.

I don't think he knew what he was getting into.

[Tango music playing] Marilynn, voice-over: He was a good sport.

And he really picked it up fast.

Marilynn, voice-over: He did.

That kid's got rhythm.

[Cheering and applause] Thank you.

Sheila: Oh, I thought you two were wonderful together.

Marilynn: I thought he was absolutely precious.

Bruce, I know you love ice cream.

Sheila: Don't deny it.

Bruce: There's nothing wrong with a good sweet tooth.

But there's something that goes very, very well with ice cream, and that is cake.

Woman: ♪ Ba da da... ♪ One of the items on our culinary bucket list is to learn how to make a tres leches cake.

Tres leches cake basically translates into "butter cake soaked with 3 kinds of milk."

Sheila: Our friend Renee has a fabulous bakery.

And she makes tres leches cupcakes.

Renee: Hello!

Marilynn: Hi, Renee.

Aw.

It's nice to see you again.

You, too.

Ohh.

Look at those pies!

This is like--you've heard of an art gallery.

This is a pie gallery.

Renee: Oh, absolutely.

Bruce: I hear you have a lesson in store for us today.

Renee: Yes, we're gonna make some tres leches cupcakes.

You ready?

Sheila: Yes!

The idea of creating a cake that's soaked in liquid goes back all the way to Medieval Europe, where cakes and breads were soaked in cream and wine.

I've never made a tres leches cupcake.

Oh, they're delicious.

Is it hard to make?

Oh, they're so easy.

They're the easiest.

First thing we do is we cream the butter.

The next thing I'm gonna add is 2 cups of granulated sugar, whole eggs.

Marilynn: One of her employees passed a recipe for tres leches cake, and now she's passed that recipe on to us.

One of the reasons you're so successful is because you use the best ingredients.

I try.

They always say, "This tastes like someone made it at home."

Like... That's right.

Sheila: That's what you're looking for.

All you have to do is use good ingredients.

Well, we have always found that bakeries bring people together no matter where you go because everyone loves sweets.

I dedicated my hips to my first cookbook.

Ha ha!

We both dedicated our waistlines to our second cookbook.

So it's time for them to go into the oven.

I don't know about you, but I feel that we are the stewards of these recipes.

We should all make an effort, especially at family gatherings, to do a gentle interrogation of the elders.

I think it's time to make the milk mixture.

Let the adventure continue.

Renee: We have evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk.

Marilynn: And my old favorite, half and half.

Some evaporated milk.

My mother used to use this in her coffee.

And this stuff!

This is sweetened condensed milk.

It's really special.

Ha ha!

So now I'm just gonna mix these up.

We don't add any other sweetener to it.

The sweetened condensed milk is sweet enough.

Marilynn: Well, as Julia Child used to say, all things in moderation.

Ha ha!

We're gonna heat it up just a couple minutes.

I truly believe that that's how we learn about each other-- through going to bakeries and learning other people's cultures and their food and their traditions.

Here they are.

Oh!

They're beautiful.

They're gorgeous.

They're gorgeous.

This is actually a very good recipe to make with kids because I felt like a kid when I was poking those holes in the cake.

Poking these holes in here so that we make sure that the tres leches mixture is really absorbed and goes all the way to the bottom of the cupcake.

Marilynn, voice-over: The cake is very light and airy, and it soaks up the 3 milks.

Renee: So I make a cream cheese frosting, and then I make caramel and add caramel to the cream cheese frosting.

This is beautiful.

Look at that.

I'll be the judge of that.

Sheila: Ohh.

Isn't that gorgeous?

Renee: Well, what do you think?

It's beautiful!

May we have the honor of having Sheila schmear the frosting?

Renee: Oh, yes!

This is good.

It was just light and fluffy and very sweet.

They were wonderful.

Mmm.

Mr. Cameraman, can I feed you, too?

Now, don't drop your camera.

[Laughter] Marilynn, voice-over: Sharing recipes, especially what we refer to as heirloom recipes, is really sharing cultures.

And it's a delicious way of looking at history.

We wanted to have a celebration and throw [PAH-tee] a party for all of our new friends.

A pahtee?

A pahtee!

I'm from New England.

What I took away from yesterday with our time with William was that you can make something old new again just by reinterpreting it.

Well, I'm gonna break the news to you gently.

I honestly don't think we can replicate rolled ice cream at home.

I have to agree with you.

We just don't have the equipment.

You know, that griddle-like thing.

But I came up with an idea.

All right.

I'm listening.

Do you like my ideas?

I love your ideas.

Of course.

Well, we collect ice-cream molds.

We have more than 500 molds.

Some of them are made of tin, some of pewter, some of copper.

Food molds have been around for centuries.

People have known for a long time you eat with your eyes.

But I think what we're trying to say is that even though we can't roll ice cream and change the shape into those rolls of rose-like ice cream, we can still make ice cream really presentable and appealing.

We've got a lot to do.

I think we've got to get cracking.

OK. We think we're gonna be making--how's this?

Surprise, surprise-- green matcha tea ice cream, and then we want to make mango ice cream.

And, Bruce, we're dedicating the third ice cream we're gonna be making to you.

Bruce: To me?

Because you're the big banana.

No, the top banana.

Oh, I'm sorry.

You're the top banana.

We're gonna be making banana-bourbon ice cream.

And it is fabulous.

Bruce: So what goes into a custard base for ice cream?

Sheila: Eggs.

Marilynn: Only the best.

Now, we're measuring the milk.

Now, I'm gonna do something that I love doing because it's very creative.

A pinch of salt.

This is vanilla paste, my favorite.

Remember, never use flavoring because it's artificial.

Always use extract.

OK, I'm gonna add the sugar.

And then I'm going to mix the cream, the milk, the salt, the vanilla paste, and the sugar all together.

Now, we're gonna scald this.

And for anyone who doesn't know what scalding means-- I know it sounds frightening, but it really isn't.

OK, I'm going to bring this over.

Now we have to temper the eggs.

We're gonna be adding about a cup of the hot liquid.

That looks good.

And Sheila is going to very quickly mix it... Quickly mix it.

so the eggs won't cook.

I'm going to be bringing this to a boil for, I would say, maybe 4 minutes.

Sheila: Lower the temperature...

This is a beautiful base.

And I wish you could smell the vanilla.

OK, we're gonna put this in an ice bath.

Ta-da!

Boy, you're strong.

OK, I'm doing it.

I'm doing it.

Here it is.

Bruce: So that rapidly cools it down?

Never put a hot ice cream base in an ice cream maker.

While we're going green, we're gonna be making green tea matcha ice cream.

Bruce: What is matcha?

Marilynn: Matcha is a ground powder of specially grown green tea leaves.

This is a lot of tea, Sheila.

Are you sure?

Absolutely.

You know what this reminds me of?

The Celtics.

Yes.

And for those of you who don't know who the Celtics are, shame on you.

What a lovely color.

Isn't it beautiful?

We got to get cracking.

We've got to bake that cake.

I agree.

I had such a good time with Renee yesterday.

I know that.

As a tribute to her, I want to make a "classic"-- quotations around classic-- tres leches cake.

But we're gonna put our own twist on it.

We wanted to take inspiration from the Thai ice cream shop, and we're going to have a special Thai tea frosting.

The thing is, you have to use black teas.

You have to use Ceylon tea.

Because that's how Thai iced tea is made.

Boy, this is a little-- I'm so short.

It's a little...

Here.

Let me help you.

Let me help you, ladies.

Oh, you are so sweet, Bruce.

Thank you, guys.

Bruce: All right.

Here we go.

There we go.

Look at how-- That looks rich and delicious.

Marilynn: Yes.

Now, it's supposed to be very, very sweet.

That's it.

I'm going to put this in.

The older I get, the less inhibitions I have.

We are frosting the tres leches cake with Thai iced tea-flavored whipped cream.

So we're keeping the classic cake-- the tres leche-- but we're adding an Asian influence to a beautiful dessert.

And I love the way this matches the frosting that Renee made yesterday.

I think it's spectacular, but I think it needs something more to make it even more spectacular-- that little oomph.

You know those individual ice-cream molds?

Yes.

They're nice and chilled.

These are individual ice-cream molds.

We want a beautiful, lovely presentation for our guests, and what we're going to do is use the old concept of molding ice cream so that everyone feels very pampered and very special.

Marilynn: And for something that looks so ornate, it really is not hard to do.

I like that.

I think that's pretty.

Let's get ready for the party.

OK, let's go.

Marilynn: This is what a culinary bucket list is all about.

It's not just about the two of us.

Sheila: We want to spread joy.

We want to spread joy, but we also want to have the opportunity to bring people together and to celebrate everyone's culture.

[Knock knock] Brass sisters: Come in!

Hello!

Hello!

Oh, my God!

Good to see you!

Thought we'd come say hi.

Oh, my God.

Sheila: I'm so glad to see you!

Renee brought some of her colleagues, and we had some of our friends come.

And it was just a celebration.

Renee: I can't imagine what you have in store for us.

Marilynn: You inspired us yesterday with those tres leches cupcakes.

Definitely to die for.

Marilynn: And we decided that the theme for this party would be a mingling of cultures.

So here is our version of tres leches cake.

And it's frosted with an iced Thai tea whipped cream.

Woman: Oh, my gosh.

Renee: That sounds so delicious.

Marilynn: Not to be outdone by William and the people at the Thai ice cream shop, I danced the tango with William.

And he's so cute.

He could be my grandson.

Ha ha!

I love it.

And your great-grandson.

All right.

OK, let's not go overboard, Sheila.

Marilynn, voice-over: I just feel that life is a party.

It should be enjoyed every minute, every second.

We made our own interpretation of a molded ice cream.

You know we collect culinary antiques and food molds.

We used these for our ice cream social today.

Let's see what we can do!

Ooh!

Whoa!

Renee: What's inside?

We have green matcha tea ice cream.

We have Bruce's banana-bourbon ice cream.

Bruce: Yeah, baby!

And then the outside is mango tango ice cream.

Oh!

Oh!

Marilynn: So this is a mingling of the old tradition and the new with all the tropical ice creams.

Thank you.

It's singing out.

Woman: Thank you.

Renee: Mmm!

Marilynn: You can really taste the difference between the flavors.

Would someone like a lily?

Renee: I would love a lily.

There's a matcha tea lily.

Renee: It's beautiful.

And this is a mango tango lily.

Woman: Ooh, I'll take a mango tango lily.

Oh, that's so pretty!

It's gorgeous.

Different woman: It works.

Marilynn: Anyone ready for cake?

Yes!

Definitely!

Ooh, yes!

OK. Woman: Go, Renee.

Oh, wow.

Renee: Ahh.

Thank you.

Marilynn: Next?

This is gorgeous!

Next?

I'm next.

Thank you.

Ohh.

Marilynn: How is it?

Woman with glasses: Oh, it's amazing.

It's fantastic.

I love that Thai flavor.

Marilynn: The bitter black tea became velvety once infused with the cream and sugar.

But I just want to reassure you, my darling, we are not going into the commercial bakery business.

You do not have anything to... worry about.

Worry about.

I think I might steal this idea.

With our blessing.

[Knock on door] There was a knock at the door.

Well, hi, Brass sisters.

Marilynn, voice-over: And these two charming, beautiful people came in.

Woman: I hear you like to flirt and dance...

Yes.

so we'd like to, you know, have a nice time with you and show you a few things.

You rascals, you.

Ha ha!

Marilynn, voice-over: And they were in costume.

I still want a pair of those net stockings that she wore.

Oh, I used to dress like that.

You still should.

Well, I'm gonna wash a couple of plates.

Bruce: No, no.

Stay where you are.

Stay.

No.

You're gonna stay where you are.

Bruce: And you're gonna watch your surprise.

That's what you're gonna do.

Marilynn: OK. Now, I don't know what the surprise is gonna be, but I have a feeling.

And what is your name?

I'm Tanna.

Tanna.

Am I gonna get into my groove?

Man: Yeah!

You're starting.

I like it already.

The hips don't lie... Marilynn: The hips don't lie.

Man: Here we go.

Oh, my goodness.

[Tanna laughs] What a neophyte I am.

Marilynn: I'm sort of doing a geriatric salsa.

[Laughter] This is too hard for me.

Yeah.

Come on.

Join me.

Marilynn, voice-over: They taught us how to do the salsa.

Here we go.

Here we go.

Now the party's starting!

OK. Tanna: Uh-huh.

Nice.

Very good.

It's all in the hips.

There we go.

It's in the hips.

I love that.

Man: Can everybody do a little shimmy?

I think we've still got our moves.

And you know what?

I think we've discovered new moves.

Marilynn: I am the queen of shimmy!

♪ Shimmy ♪ ♪ Shimmy ♪ Marilynn, voice-over: I just feel that life is a party.

It should be enjoyed every minute.

I'm--I'm too hot to handle.

[Laughter]