[Upbeat saxophone playing] [Walter] Welcome to New York City, a city that has for centuries welcomed people from all over the globe.

Each bring along their own unique cultures, traditions and their food.

I'll prepare some fantastic recipes, such as stamppot that pays homage to Manhattan Island's Dutch roots.

As someone who immigrated to America over 50 years ago, I'll celebrate my German heritage with a pork goulash and sauerkraut.

And we will also learn of a restaurant that celebrates the diverse culinary traditions of the city right here in the heart of Manhattan.

So join me as we explore this amazing city, all for A Taste of History!

[Narrator] This program is made possible by Pasture-raised Australian beef and lamb, adding variety into your weekly meals or unique touch for your next celebration.

Widely available at your local market.

For recipes and more, we're at aussiebeefandlamb.com [Adventurous music] [Narrator] Long before the towering skyscrapers and bustling streets emerged, the land we now call Manhattan was once inhabited by the Lenape people who called it Manahatta, translating to "island of many hills."

The ecosystem and landscape of Manhattan would have been characterized by lush forests, flowing rivers and abundant wildlife.

Henry Hudson, an English explorer, embarked on a significant voyage in 1609, sailing up the river that now bears his name in search of a Northwest Passage to Asia.

During his travels, Hudson encountered the magnificent natural beauty of the region and made notable observations that would pique European interest and lay the groundwork for future settlement.

In 1626, the Dutch West India Company negotiated the purchase of Manhattan from the Lenape people.

Led by Peter Minuit The Dutch obtained the island for trade goods valued at 60 Dutch guilders, equivalent to roughly $1,100 today, and established a settlement named New Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan, marking the birth of the city we now know as New York.

[Music] The early settlement served as a crucial trading hub, attracting merchants, adventurers and settlers from various European countries.

Its streets were a vibrant tapestry of languages and cultures with Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, African and indigenous peoples intermingling.

The settlement boasted bustling markets where goods from around the world were bought and sold.

Churches, taverns and communal gathering places dotted the streets, fostering a sense of community.

New Amsterdam was a place of ambition and opportunity, where individuals from different backgrounds came together to forge a new future.

[Upbeat music] The legacy of this cosmopolitan spirit can still be felt in the diverse and vibrant character of New York City today.

[Walter] Central Park gives you the feeling like it was in the 1700s.

No cars, no taxis, no highrises, just tranquility.

But among the towering skyscrapers that you see today, there is one farmhouse, a living museum that lets you journey back in time to the 17th century.

[Meredith] We are here in the upper-Manhattan neighborhood of Inwood, on Broadway and 204th Street in the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum that was built in 1784 by the Dyckman family.

The Dyckmans were farmers moved here from the Netherlands in the 1660s and farmed 250 acres of farmland, which was basically the entire neighborhood of Inwood.

So from roughly 190th Street to 215th Street from river to river.

So a huge expanse.

[Walter] Just walking in here just gives me the chills.

I mean, just think about the hustle and bustle of Manhattan as we know it today.

It's mind boggling.

[Meredith] It's very hard to fathom and I think it's hard for visitors even to envision.

[Upbeat rock music] [Walter in distance] Just a little mustard, very little!

[Walter] New York City is known for the many food trucks.

Any kind of food you can imagine is available on the food truck.

[Walter to Vendor] Looking good man!

My favorite is a hotdog!

It reminds me of my young days in the Black Forest.

It's fantastic.

But enough with fast food.

Let's go cook up some 17th century authentic recipes, which I much rather prefer.

[Soft piano music] [Fire roaring] [Walter] Life must have been very difficult in 17th century New Amsterdam that we call today, New York.

But a hearty meal like a stamppot would have most likely made life a little bit more comfortable.

I'm very excited.

I'm back at Harriton House and I'm going to show you this iconic one pot dish called stamppot.

what we called the day Shepherd's pie would have been what they served in the 17th century.

It used to be referred to as a peasant dish where you utilize nothing more than some bacon, onion and some sausage.

So it became a popular comfort food that people enjoyed from all walks of life.

Exactly what New York City is all about.

The difference between my recipe and the recipe I got from the Dutch is that we use kale.

We, in the Black Forest, use spinach.

What I'm going to be doing right now is I'm going to sweat down some bacon, onion, garlic and later the kale and then mix it all together.

Right now I'm just going to chop up a little onion.

[Chopping] I have a dutchie already getting hot in the back, onion, garlic.

So let me put the bacon and the dutchie behind me.

[Sizzling] All right.

So right now I got some [Sizzling] smoked bacon.

This happens to be applewood smoked bacon, but any bacon you can use and this is cut what we call a brunoise.

I have some garlic that already chopped.

I add the garlic now and then I wait just for a tad to get the bacon caramelized a little bit more.

I already have some bacon that I cooked earlier that the recipe calls for to add it later on top.

So this is basically the base of the dish.

It's a very simple dish, by the way.

If you watch it and you make it, your family will be very happy.

It's also good on your household budget.

So now let me add in the onion, because it's good enough.

Throw the onion in and basically What we do is we're going to cook all this together and then last moment I have the potatoes already cooked I strain them, I add it all together and then we're going to serve it up.

Bacon, can you eat it raw?

Bacon is never raw, ever.

Somebody had this idea that bacon is raw, it's not.

It's always cured.

And it's either smoked or many other ways to preserve but where I come from, we eat it just like that.

If you go into a gasthaus, you get a big slab of bacon like that and some good bread and that's the end of it.

Like I said, some of the bacon I already precooked.

I got some smoked sausage over here that I'm gonna cut up.

So basically all I want to do with that, is to just go like so literally.

[Chopping] [Sizzling] Now the pepper on top.

A good amount of pepper.

[Grinding pepper] and then salt we check later because you boil the potato with salt anyway.

And nutmeg now.

[Grinding nutmeg] The first time I had this dish was actually in Aruba believe it or not, in a Dutch restaurant because Aruba is a Dutch island.

So now I want to put the kale in here because the kale has got to wilt.

So here we go.

[Sizzling] And then we let it sit.

So here I'm going to put it back on the fire for a little bit just to get some heat.

So we let it sit a little bit more.

It already smells beautiful.

There we go.

You see how the volume shrinks?

Look at that.

Oh yeah.

I already have the potatoes cooked and I put the potato in here, and I put it back on the fire.

The Dutch are known to introduce a lot of techniques to 18th century America, the dutchie, as we call it, the Dutch pots.

The spices.

Now, we're just going to let it simmer.

Cream.

So rather you can use cream or you can use milk.

You got to really look for either Yukon Golds or as a matter of fact, so many stores have now what they call Dutch potato, which is really the same thing.

Don't do it with Russet potato or Red potato, it wouldn't be right.

The potato makes a huge difference.

Okay, [Dutchie lands on the table] That's where the name comes from.

Stomp because you're stomping, [laughs] you're breaking, you're mushing.

It definitely needs salt.

Even so, we cooked the potato in salt but the kale is so neutral that it takes a lot away from the salt.

It needs a good amount of pepper [Grinding pepper] Now I'll plate it up.

There's no question that the Dutch left their foot mark, especially right here, when you cook on rod iron.

It holds the heat, it changes the flavor.

It's just absolutely beautiful.

Bacon that I already precooked earlier.

Some green onions for a little color.

So when I make this dish, I remind myself how difficult it would have been for the people to come from a foreign country to a new country, not knowing what to expect, not knowing what to find.

So maybe a simple dish like that is maybe something that started the trend that we have today in New York, where there is food from all over the world and every restaurant concept from all over the world.

[Energetic saxophone music] [Nasser] Migrant Kitchen is a reflection of New York.

It's a city of immigrants, It's a city where you can land and by hustle and grit, go work and earn a living.

[Daniel] This city will always be a city of immigrants.

And I think we need to be welcoming of that, right?

We need to celebrate that.

We need to provide people with jobs that are respectful, fair wage, and great food.

That's why we're here.

[Upbeat saxophone] [Daniel] The inspiration behind the name The Migrant Kitchen came from the fact that we blend our two backgrounds.

Nasser from Palestine, my background my parents are from Mexico, so we took two cuisines a little bit from the old world, a little bit from the New World, and decided we wanted to blend it together, make something unique.

[Acoustic guitar strumming] [Nasser] It was during COVID where Nasser had the idea of, hey, we're shut down, we got some extra meals in the fridge, let's see if we can donate it out to some frontline workers.

[Jaclinn] We realized very quickly that the scope went well beyond the four walls of the hospitals and into the communities.

And so at that time, we became New York's largest restaurant quality food operation to provide meals to people who otherwise did not have access.

And we realized that that went beyond COVID as well, and so we're continuing to do that today.

Food insecurity is an issue across the country.

So we've traveled to 18 different states, almost 30 cities, and we've also been abroad.

And we work in parallel to The Migrant Kitchen restaurants because a portion of all proceeds from the restaurants gets donated to the initiative to provide those meals.

[Nasser] One of the best things about it is that all that work that we've done was done with the help of community.

But now our customers are a direct partner to help out meals for those in need.

[Upbeat jazz music] [Nasser] Hummus exploded as a mainstream part of America to the point that they even have now chocolate hummus, and no one should ever have chocolate hummus.

Hummus is just tahini and chickpeas please, for the love of God.

But nonetheless, hummus is now everywhere.

[Daniel] Very minimal ingredients, a simple blend of chickpeas, olive oil, lemon and tahini.

We just keep it very simple.

We don't add too much to it unless we're adding a topping like some roasted carrots or some chimichurri.

[Nasser] That's the twist, the chimichurri.

I'm a big fan of chimichurri sauce.

The first time I tried it was when I first arrived in the Bronx, and then we added it to the hummus and it was a perfect blend.

[Daniel] Two cuisines that meld very well together.

Right?

You take a little bit of the Middle East and the travels from the Spice Road over to the New World in Latin America.

The synergy just makes perfect sense, right?

So why not take hummus with a little chimichurri?

The flavor combination is just amazing.

[Saxophone] [Daniel] The empanadas are also a top seller here.

They're hand pressed empanadas.

We do different flavors like our lamb empanadas is probably one of the best ones slow roasted lamb shoulder, some sumac, some Aleppo.

The chicken tinga empanada.

[Nasser] The thing is, empanadas are anything that is like, a fried or baked dumpling, if you will, is across, I think, every cuisine.

[Daniel] So this is just our dumpling.

[Nasser] Precisely.

[Saxophone] [Nasser] So I grew up loving shawarma, and shawarma is usually lamb, beef.

And tortas are one of the most filling sandwiches you can get in Mexico.

And then Dan basically put it together.

[Daniel] I grew up in L.A. We used to visit a little shop in East L.A., best tortas in the world, right?

So we wanted to kind of take that memory from my childhood and replicate it a little bit with the lamb and the Cotija cheese and the avocado and the jalapeños and everything else that's in there, it really is a delicious combination.

It's not hamburgers and hot dogs anymore, right?

It's not just apple pie.

We think that carnitas and tortas and shawarma are just as American as that.

[Upbeat music] What a spectacular day, seeing all this great food seeing this organization, for a chef, it's a dream come true.

I'll tell you, this is exactly what New York City is all about.

Migration of people and cultures that is the future of food.

Well, I can't wait no longer, so I'm going to take a bite of those empanadas.

We have the chicken tinga.

The dough is perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside and beautiful and tender and very well seasoned on the inside.

Now, I was told I should try it with the tomatillo dipping sauce so I'll do this right now.

Let me see.

Mhmm.

They weren't kidding.

What a unique flavor.

So let me try another one here.

Sausage, egg, it don't get better than that.

If I lived right here, that'd be my ideal breakfast every day.

So let me try a little bit of the Diavolo, which means obviously, Diavolo, spicy, hot.

That's why people call me Diavolo.

Mmhm.

That has an oomph.

The one thing I noticed this morning is a lot of people coming in here and asking for the torta, which I mean, it looks just fantastic.

Take a look at that, bread grilled and the lamb is slowly roasted.

Oh, I can see why, I can see why everybody's coming in asking for it.

It hits the spot.

I tell you.

That's beautiful.

My eyes are on the chorizo bowl with Halloumi cheese.

looks like the perfect breakfast dish.

There's a fried egg on top There's potatoes underneath.

But what's unique about it, it uses this very unique Halloumi cheese, it's a semi-hard cheese, sheep milk and goat milk together.

I'm going to try that.

It's beautiful.

I mean, the cheese itself has a tremendous amount of flavor.

I'm not so familiar with this cheese, but now I know where to find it and the chorizo which I understand they make themselves, has a lot of flavor.

It's not too overly seasoned, it's very pleasant.

I don't have to travel the world anymore, because I can find it all in one stop right here.

That is really the whole concept here of The Migrant Kitchen, And that's what New York is all about.

It's just unbelievable.

And all I can tell you, for the many years I've been eating food and trying food, this is it.

And I'll be back.

[Mystical music] [Narrator] The Statue of Liberty is one of the most iconic symbols of New York City's history.

It was a gift from France to the United States, intended to celebrate America's centennial of independence and was dedicated in 1886.

The statue was designed by French sculptor Frederick Auguste Bartholdi, and its construction was overseen by Gustave Eiffel, who later went on to build the Eiffel Tower.

The monument bears a plaque with the famous words from poet Emma Lazarus, which have become synonymous with the ideals of the American dream and have welcomed millions of immigrants to the United States as they passed through Ellis Island.

During the turn of the 20th century, the United States was experiencing a massive wave of immigration to deal with the growing influx, the federal government decided to open a new, more centralized immigration station on Ellis Island.

The location was chosen for its proximity to New York City, which was a major port of entry for ships coming from Europe.

Over the 20th century, immigrants became a vital part of the fabric of New York City.

Their contributions have helped to shape the city's culture, economy and identity, and they continue to play an important role in its future.

Neighborhoods like Little Italy, Chinatown and Harlem became cultural hubs, where residents could celebrate their heritage and share their customs with others.

New York's culinary scene was transformed by the arrival of immigrants from all over the world, creating a melting pot of cuisines that is still celebrated today.

[Acoustic guitar] [Walter] Everybody that comes to New York City brings along a little bit of their home.

Look at me.

I immigrated to the United States in 1969, and guess what I brought along?

My favorite food as well.

Food is history.

And when you're homesick, what is better than a meal that you remember from your childhood?

So today, in honor of the New York melting pot, I'm making the Szegediner Schweinegulasch.

It's nothing fancy.

It's not a dish you make with company coming over, it's a dish for yourself.

Growing up after the Second World War, there was no supermarkets, or stores to go into.

And if there were any, they were empty.

So we had to really nourish ourself.

Work with our garden, work with our root cellars, work with what we had.

So basically this dish I'm making is exactly what represents that era.

Today I'm utilizing pork tenderloin.

During my time after the Second World War, nobody would have used a pork tenderloin.

You use byproducts of the pork, such as a shoulder, maybe the leg.

Pork tenderloin however, is a lot easier and it's really not as expensive in our days.

Put a little salt.

A little salt.

Right there.

A little pepper.

So many recipes you'll find that do the same dish would make that and let it sit possibly overnight.

And if you let it sit overnight, they also include the paprika into it.

I don't like that because if you put the paprika into it, what happens?

Paprika has a tendency to burn really quick.

[Sizzling] Here we go.

I've got some butter already, you could use some oil, a little butter.

Some people put bacon into it.

[Sizzling] The meat, we just want to caramelize it.

All right, couple of minutes put some onion into it.

My grandmother would knock out this dish in no time, because there's really nothing to it as you see.

It's a real straightforward, basic ingredients The only big difference is in the Black Forest, when people say about using Hungarian paprika, they mean it.

We're not talking about Spanish paprika or other paprika.

We talk about Hungarian paprika that is sweeter and more flavorful.

So the onion, which you cut coarse for this dish, goes in there right now.

[Sizzling] And now all you got to do is let the onions caramelize.

[Acoustic guitar] You cook the sauerkraut on the side.

So later you mix the sauerkraut together with the pork stew, and your meal is complete.

Add some garlic in the back there that I'll add into it.

Garlic is already chopped.

There we go.

As soon as the onion gets more translucent, you're ready for the tomato paste.

Not much tomato paste.

Maybe like two spoons.

A little bit of red wine here.

[Sizzling] You can put in the paprika now, since I'm going to be next to it watching.

Like I said, it's Hungarian paprika that has a unique flavor.

And now we can let that reduce.

That's going to get the Hungarian connection which is the caraway seed.

I got a little stock, that you also can use regular water.

But since I have just beautiful stock, I might as well use that.

It's ready.

The meat is ready.

So basically what I got to do is I got to check how much pepper flake I want to add into it.

It needs the salt.

I want to be careful on the salt because the sauerkraut, which is already cooked separately, has already salt in there.

And then the sour cream.

[Spooning in] Sour cream.

[Mixing] And it needs a good amount of pepper.

[Grinding pepper] All right.

Now I'm reaching the sauerkraut.

Beautiful.

When you do this recipe, you cook the sauerkraut separately because the sauerkraut takes much longer than the stew.

And I'm gonna add this into my stew.

All right Now, I mix this whole thing up together.

Let it sit for a bit.

Let me move this over here.

Easier.

And you're just going to dish it out.

[Acoustic guitar] Perfect.

It's exactly how I remembered.

A little parsley for garnish.

And there you go.

That's all she wrote.

Wow.

It tastes like I never left the Black Forest.

It's a fantastic dish and an easy dish.

[Electric guitar] [Walter] A city like New York is an incredible reminder of the power of food to bring people together, to bridge cultural divides, and to tell the story of the community's journey.

From the earliest Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam, to the newest arrivals in The Migrant Kitchen.

This is a place that has always welcomed the world with open arms and open heart.

So let's raise a glass and a fork to New York City and to the many flavors and traditions that makes it one of the most delicious places on earth.

All this for A Taste of History.

[Narrator] This program is made possible by Pasture-raised Australian beef and lamb, adding variety into your weekly meals or unique touch for your next celebration.

Widely available at your local market.

For recipes and more, we're at aussiebeefandlamb.com Viewers can find DVD's 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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