Prime Video offers the best in entertainment. The end of the world continues with Fallout 2. A global phenomenon, inbegred by Prime. I heard you about what to do in this situation. Look at the epic end of the unwritten story of The Witches of Oz. Buy or buy? Wicked for good now. I'm taking you to see The Wizard. There's no going back. So what you also look, Prime Video. Here you look at everything. Prime is advised, especially to buy or buy. Inhoud can be advertised 18+. All the rules are used to be used. I'm Ina Garten. I love to invite interesting people to my house for good food, great conversation, and lots of fun. The legendary violin virtuoso and conductor, Itzhak Perlman, is joining me for a wonderful day at the barn. I'm welcoming him with a potato galette with smoked salmon. So is this enough for two of us? Barely. We're talking about surprise calls. A film made by Steven Spielberg, a score by John Williams, and you're going to think about it. We're cooking the musical superstars scrambled eggs with caramelized onions. That looks gorgeous. And my sweet strawberries Romanoff. It's like a concert. You know, it's a one-time experience. Be my guest, be my guest. Be my guest, guest, guest. Today is going to be an amazing day. The renowned musician Itzhak Perlman is coming to spend the day with me. How did this happen? I can't wait. And I understand he has a great sense of humor, and he cooks. So I just thought I'd make something that was like a remembered flavor for him. I'm making potato galettes, which is kind of like potato pancakes with smoked salmon. I'm starting with one russet potato that I peeled and julienned. You can do it by hand or you can use a mandolin like I did. It's so much easier. And then just season it with salt and pepper. I pat these dry with paper towels to make sure they're really dry and it makes a crispier galette. Okay, into the pan. So it's an eight-inch saute pan. Just goes into a little canola oil. Just like this. I'm just going to take a spatula and press it down so it makes a nice galette. And this is going to cook for five minutes, completely undisturbed. And while that happens, let me tell you about my fabulous guest. Superstar violinist and conductor Yitzhak Perlman was born in Tel Aviv in 1945. Despite contracting polio, he began to learn the violin when he was four years old and a year later earned a place at the Tel Aviv Music Academy. In 1958, when he was just 13, he gained national recognition in the United States by performing on the Ed Sullivan television show. And that same year, he moved to New York to attend the Juilliard School. In 1963, he made his American debut with the National Orchestra Association of New York, and he hasn't looked back since. Itzhak played at the U.S. Capitol for President Obama's inauguration to 40 million TV viewers, and also at the White House state dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II. He has played the violin on film scores including the Academy Award-winning movies Schindler's List and Memoirs of the Geisha. He also has conducted for the New York and L.A. Philharmonics, plus the Chicago and San Francisco Symphonies, just to name a few. Itzhak has been granted a Presidential Medal of Freedom, a National Medal of Arts, and a Medal of Liberty. He has 16 Grammy Awards, four Emmys, a Kennedy Center Honor, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Genesis Prize. He's also an incredible teacher and a mentor to gifted young string players. at the Pearlman Music Program, founded in 1994 by his wife Toby. He has taught every summer since the program started. Itzhak and Toby have five children, 12 grandchildren, and live just around the corner in East Hampton. I just can't wait for him to get here. Okay, the galettes cook for five minutes. What I'm going to do is put a little butter around the edge and just let it cook for another three minutes because you never have too much butter, right? And then I'm going to flip it. The extra few minutes means it gets really crispy. So when the time's up, I'll loosen the galette gently around the edge before flipping it. Okay, here goes. Perfect. And nicely browned on the bottom. Now I'll drizzle another tablespoon of melted, unsalted butter around the edge. And cook the second side until it's nicely browned. About four minutes. Okay, I'm just going to put it on a plate with a paper towel just to drain off any oil. And then I'm going to make it even better. I'm going to put some creme fraiche on top, just about two tablespoons. This is going to be so good. I love the hot galette with the cold creme fraiche and just spread it out on top. And then I'm going to put smoked salmon on top. And you can put it flat on top, but I kind of like to do little ribbons of it. Looks better. Okay, just a little chive, a little salt. It's amazing how something this simple can look this good. And it's ready for Yitzhak. I'm on my way to Aina's. I'm very, very excited. I've always seen her on TV, and now I'm supposed to cook for her, and I'm a little nervous. So wish me luck. So this is it. We have arrived at Aina's. Here we go. Itza, I'm so happy to meet you It's finally, finally after all these years You live around the corner for 35 years and I've never seen it That's right, that's right How exciting is this? I was afraid it was going to burst into tears No, no, no, please, please You have that effect on women, I'm sure Thanks a lot Come with me, I have something for you Oh, I see something amazing Did you have anything to do with it? I made it for you I had no idea You didn't know I knew how to cook? Did you make the galette for yourself? But you and I know what it really is, right? Latkes. Latkes. That's a latkes, yes. Exactly. Well, that looks absolutely fantastic. So is this enough for two of us? Barely. So I think I'll cut it like this. And then we'll each have like two pieces, right? Right, absolutely. So you cook a lot, right? I cook, you know. My wife, Toby, she decided one day about two or three years ago that she says, I'm retiring. I'm not cooking. Seriously? Yeah, absolutely. So the only way you're going to feed everybody. She's cooked. We have five children. Yeah. When you think about cooking every day, it's a big deal. It's a big deal. So I've been cooking a lot. I've been doing dinner and so on and so forth. I actually have a little bone to pick with you. You did cooking videos during the pandemic. Yes. You're trying to put me out of business? Remind me. Remind me. What did I do? I can't remember what it was, but for measuring, you decided to use the back of a fork to get the breadcrumbs into the pan No measurements at all A little bit more breadcrumbs I very very much exact The only time that I cooked from a recipe, I remember a long, long time ago, my wife wasn't feeling well, so I said, I'll cook for you. So I took out the recipe. I remember that it was a wonderful, great Italian that I was saying, I'm going to make you tortellini with tomato sauce. Sounds fabulous. Fantastic. First of all, my tortellini was like balloons. You made the tortellini? Yes. Wow. I'm impressed. No, no, no. Let me correct you. I tried to make the tortellini. It was my first effort. And then there was the sauce. So I presented it to Toby and I said, a little strong. Then I realized that the recipe was for four people. Yeah. And I use the same ingredients for two people, especially the spices. And since then I said, no more recipe. I'm going to do something that's called logic. You know, you're not going to take something. And it clearly works. Well, I can't wait to do it. Absolutely. So are we doing like this or are we going to do it? Yeah, we'll do it with our hands. Yeah, I think so. Oh, yes. That's the only menshy way to eat a potato latkes, right? You know what's wonderful about this potato thing is that there is a crunch, but in the middle there is a softness that gives it the taste of the potato because sometimes it's all crunch. Yeah. But this is both. I like the combination. One more bite. I'm so glad he likes it. Salmon's pretty good, too. Yeah. But you had nothing to do with that. I smoked it myself. You know, the salmon is, I like drier salmon. So it's like Norwegian salmon or Scottish salmon. It's a little drier, and I think it's better for this. Yeah, because my favorite salmon is on the opposite. I like it's fatty and not salty. And not salty, really? And not salty. Wow. And it's usually when you put it in the refrigerator, you do fatty and not salty. After a while, it gets a little salty. Yeah. You know, always I want not salty because when it's just right, it becomes too salty for me. Anyway, that's just me. Everybody has an opinion about that. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yes. I have so much to talk to you about. Music, food, so many subjects. I can't wait. All right. I'm at your disposable I'm at your disposal I'm here with Itzhak Perlman musician, conductor, teacher and famous cook I understand sort of in my own house I'm famous that's good and a comedian not quite comedian so in 1958 you were 13 years old and there was a competition for the Ed Sullivan Show in Israel. How did you even know about the competition? Did you have a TV? No, no, no, no. It was, first of all, there was no TV. At that time, I don't think I had a TV. But everybody knew that he was sending emissaries. He didn't come himself to begin with. There was a competition in Israel. And of course, he was the master of the variety show. So anybody who did anything that was unusual auditioned. And so I made it to the finals. And the final, that's when he himself arrived in Israel. And so he chose you. Yeah. And then I was, I thought, a pretty obvious choice. I played pretty well, you know, for 13. I've seen it. He played pretty well. It's the understatement of it. I was a little chubby. Yeah. I was walking with crutches. So the whole thing was a very nice package for him, I suppose. But you probably didn't understand why that was going to be the change in your life, because somebody discovered you. Well, that was, yeah. That was a way that, you know, when you're in a small country like Israel, you know, the dream of everybody is to go, they call it hishtalmud, which is to go and complete yourself abroad. So it was either Europe or the United States. So that was a way of getting to the Juilliard School. And then as a result of the Ed Sullivan show, it took all the artists who were on the show on the tour, you know, tour in the States. Called it the Ed Sullivan Cavalcade of Stars. We went on a tour. and then afterwards I got accepted to Juilliard. Worked pretty well. Very nicely, yeah. So you came to the United States. What was it like living in, I mean, you were 13 years old, living in a totally different country? Did you speak English? I did not speak English. I missed, I came with my mother first. My father was left in Israel to sort of sell everything and redo everything so that he could come and join us. So for a year I was in the States just with my mother and we basically were looking all the time for kosher food. She found a place across the street from our hotel and we had hot dogs and French fries every day for lunch. That was it, you know, because that was safe. So, you know, I learned to really adore French fries and hot dogs, and that's what we had. A very American lunch. Yeah, absolutely. This all started with a moment that just knocks me out whenever I think of it. When you were three, you heard on the radio a violin. Right. And you decided you want to learn how to play the violin. At three and a half, I got the fiddle. You know, I tried to play something and it sounded like nothing. And so I'm repeating what my parents always told me. So he threw the violin under the bed and he says, I don't want that. So then later on at the age of five, first, you know, I was contracted with polio and so on. So what happened was that that kind of took a little bit of time. and then still wanted to play the violin. So they got me another violin, and that became serious, and then they got me a teacher. But you connected with that sound when you were three and a half. Yeah. You just knew. Yeah, automatic. It's automatic. It's what you hear. You're just making it real. In a world where everybody's listening to hip-hop and country and rock, why is it important to still learn about classical music? Because it's, first of all, classical music has proved to be pretty much durable. You know, that's number one. Number two, it is like learning history. That's where we came from. It's the base. Exactly. It's like learning how to make a roast chicken so that you can... The simplest. The simplest so you can really build on it. During exams at Julia, for example, kids always, we always ask them to give us an unaccompanied Bach. And it's very interesting. It humbles you. simple, but it's technically difficult and so on. And that's the equivalent, I suppose, of a roast chicken. I think it's probably like making an omelet. It's the simplest thing because it's probably three eggs and a few ingredients, and it's the hardest thing to make well. It's the block of cooking. Absolutely. I agree. I know you love teaching. How would you describe your teaching style? You know I always say to them don play the music talk the music because everybody can play I mean all this you know on a certain level you can play I said all right playing time is over Now you have to say something Or like even like I said this morning the sky was full of clouds and the rain was threatening So if I say, this morning the sky was full of clouds and the rain was threatening. So who cares? But if you say, this morning the sky was full of clouds and the rain was threatening. That's all you have to do. And all of a sudden, everything is more meaningful. Yeah. So you've played for presidents, world leaders, and even Billy Joel. Did you get nervous? I mean, with Billy Joel, of course, you know, I'm taking part in a little recording of his called Down Easter Alexa. If you hear the violin in the background, it's me. And he is a fantastic artist. So that was a lot of fun. And for presidents, it's just an honor. Isn't it wonderful to have something like that where you just say, wow, you know where you came from? Yeah. And to end up there, it's just you have to take a moment and just say, this is wonderful. It's very, very nice, but you don't want to get arrogant because of that. You want to know exactly where you are. One of the many wonderful things you've done is play the theme song for Schindler's List. How'd that come about? Well, it's a nice story. I get a telephone call from some guy by the name of John Williams. And he says, Itzhak, it's John. That's a very good imitation, by the way. Hello, Itzhak, it's John. You know, I'm writing the score for this movie, Schindler's List. Do you know it? And I said, no, I don't. And he explained it to me what it was all about. And he says, and I hear a violin. Would you do that? Would you pay for the thing? And I said, well, let me think about it. And we hung up and I told my wife Toby, you know, he said, you know, he just called me and she says, you said you're going to think about it? Are you crazy? You're going to sing, you know, a film made by Steven Spielberg, a score by John Williamson. You're going to think about it? I said, oh, well, you know. So the next day, I think a couple of days I called up. I said, OK, I'll do it. And the theme from Schindler's List, I play it in every recital that I give. And that's the only thing, literally, that people say, could you play that? I mean, it's just like, sounds like my theme song. You know, it's very simple, but it's, there is poignant. I love that story. Yeah. I have this theory that every successful person has one person who really believes in them. Who is that for you? I would have to say my wife. Oh, that's wonderful. I really trust her. When things are going well, she will tell me. When things are sort of okay. I mean, obviously, my challenge is when I perform is to make sure that it's not below a certain level. But when it's about that level and it's not above it, she would always say, it was okay. And then I know that it was just all right. But when she's saying that was really something, then I'm very happy because I know that she means that she doesn't want to make me feel good. So what do you look forward to? Goulash. I love that answer. Can I tell you this story? My mother used to make a dish. We called it the Suez Canal. And the reason we called it this was a plate full of mashed potatoes. and there would be a thing in the middle and she would put goulash in the middle with gravy. And so she would go, would you like a Suez Canal today? Here we go. So are you making these scrambled eggs with caramelized onions? I'm going to let you look at it. I'm not showing you anything. You're too good for me to show you anything. Yes, yes, yes. You know what? I learn from everybody. Oh, that's good. I think it's pretty good. I said my mother actually used to do that. Really? She did a lot of stuff for Passover. Yeah. You know, she did something else, which we're not doing today, because we did not used to have too many eggs that were expensive. So what she did is she made an egg salad, and she substituted as part of the egg salad potatoes. Oh. And she would do mashed potatoes, hard boiled eggs. Oh, that sounds good. And chicken schmaltz. Yeah. And some raw onions. And we would eat that with matzah. She would also make this with matzah. The remembered flavors are our favorite ones. Always. Right? Always. Okay, so what do you need first? I need something that is right here. Okay, good. Butter. Should I turn this on for you? Yeah, please. Okay. The trick is the more butter, the better. The more butter, the better. The more butter, the better. That's my motto. Yes? Oh, absolutely. I want to make sure that the onions are swimming in the butter. Okay. Okay, so you might as well put the onions. Should I do it? Sure, you go ahead. I'm your sous chef, right? Absolutely. Okay. Oh, fantastic. That's lots of onions. So what other things are your remembered flavors from childhood? Was your mother a good cook? So she was a good, I mean she was not a gourmet gourmet kind of cook. I bet nobody was then. Yeah, she would make for example gefilte fish. When she made gefilte fish the whole house reeked. It's not the aroma of gefilte fish, it's the reek of gefilte fish. And she made it the Polish way which is sweet. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh yeah, absolutely. I cannot stand gefilte fish that's not sweet. And some people think, are you crazy? Is it sweet with honey? No, sweet with sugar. She used onion and pepper and sugar. And then she would do it with sliced carrots. And then there would be a jelly thing. And then she would put it in the refrigerator. And in the beginning, she would actually take the carp. It was made from carp. and she would cut the carp and she would take the meat out of the skin and she would stuff the skin of the carp so it will you see a piece of the skin with skin around it yeah interesting but because today we're just like canal you know I mean but she has to do this whole thing and of course the head she would stuff the head and she would have that because that was the cheapest cut We didn't have any money. So that's how we did that. I love that it's canel in French. Yeah. And it's gefilteficion. Gefilteficion. In Yiddish, you can say candle. Candle. And I have a candle. So anyway. So will you tell me a story? I've heard a little bit about this, but it's unbelievable. Yeah. About the missing violin. Didn't you get a violin stolen sometime? Yes, yes, I did. What happened? I was 18. And it was taking part of the competition, the finals. Yeah. It was at Carnegie Hall. And I played. And then I took the violin and put it in my dressing room and went down to stage level and waiting for the results. And the results came and luckily I won. And then we went up to my room and the fiddle was gone. And Toby had said I saw some guy in a raincoat you know going up and down with a fiddle and it didn occur to me What kind of a violin was it The violin was a guarneri which is one of the great fiddles It was on loan for me from the Juilliard School And so he took it, and there was a pawn shop near Carnegie Hall. He gave it to the pawn shop. It was in my case with two bows, but the guy looked and said, two bows, okay, I'll give you 15 bucks. And so the next day, this thing was in the front page of the New York Times, below the fold, but still in the front page of the New York Times. And the pawnbroker looked at it, and he says, I think I have that fiddle. Oh, that this guanari had gotten stolen? Yeah, so he called the Juilliard School, and then they recovered it. So it was a one-day affair, but it was very exciting. And all's well that ends well. Yeah, that's right. Okay, put me to work. You need eggs? All right, I need eggs. Give me about six eggs. Okay. I need them to be done. Oh, you're doing it so beautifully. Thank you very much. I have 40 years of experience cracking eggs. So six I think should be fine. Okay. Am I beating these or are you beating them? No, I want to do something. You have a special technique? I want to do something. I'm not wearing an apron, so I better do it very carefully. Otherwise you're going to be wearing eggs. I'm going to be, yeah. All right, so you're going to hold on to this. Now what I need. What do you need? Some salt. Now let's see. Let's put this thing. Okay, you got that? So are you ready for the big thing? But I feel like I need a drum roll here. Like a vault. Maybe a whole orchestra. All right. Thank you. So how about if I slice some bread while you do that? Absolutely. But the thing is that it'll be ready before you know it. Okay. I'm slicing fast. How's that? Before you know it. The beauty about the scrambled eggs is not to overcook it. Sometimes I take it off the fire and just cook it like that. Well, that's how the French cook eggs at a very low heat, so that it cooks slowly. If it cooks too fast, it just gets tough. That's right. There's nothing worse than, you know, sometimes you go to a hotel and they give you a whole thing of eggs. Yeah, and they're just like hard as a rock. Rubbery, you know. Rubbery. You can go and play tennis on the eggs. They bounce beautifully. So when you're on the road, how do you, do you keep kosher? On the road, not really. You have a little lax rules. What do you like to eat on the road when you, like say. Anything I can, because we have kosher at the house, so anything that's not kosher. I won't tell Toby. Don't use it. Don't use it. I like a lot of stuff. Toby does not like Indian food. So I eat a lot of Indian food when I'm on the road. That's great. That's really smart. When I'm giving a talk, I always hate to eat before. I always prefer to eat afterwards. Are you the same way? Or do you feel like no? I'm much more nervous talking than he is playing. On the day of a concert, I eat like maybe a late lunch and then nothing. Oh, that's smart. And then usually they give me stuff, you know, in the green room. They give you, you know. Just terrible stuff. No, sometimes it's pretty good. I mean, it's delicious, but it's not exactly vegetables and protein. No, they give you bananas. I ask for bananas and fruits and stuff like that. Oh, that's smart. Yeah, that's right. All right, I think we're ready. That's fabulous. Do you believe this? Let's see if the toast is ready. Yeah. And the toast is ready, too? Yeah. Okay. Okay, so we're ready for this. Oh, do you want to put it next to the bread? No, I don't. Next to the bread. That looks gorgeous. And so easy to do. Yeah. Especially if you have a famous violinist doing it. Exactly. Let's see. Is it any good? Pretty good. It's pretty good. It's fabulous. And it's so simple. It's butter, onions, and eggs. And this goes well with matcha or with bread? Or with bread. I think it's just great on its own. Oh, my God. It's just perfect. And now I'm going to return the favor. Yeah. I'm going to make you strawberries Romanoff, but they're never going to be as good as this eggs. Well, of course, they will not taste the same. I hope. I hope not. Yitzhak Treveni had to make his scrambled eggs with caramelized onions, which are so good. So in return, I'm making strawberries Romanoff for him. As long as you don't mix the Romanov with the scrambled eggs, I think we have a good chance of something good. That's a deal. I can't wait. I'm going to show you how good. It's really simple. So we're cutting up strawberries. You know, the funny thing about strawberries Romanov is it sounds like it's from, like, the Russian czars, doesn't it? It turns out there was a guy in Hollywood that had a restaurant. He called himself Prince Romanov. I don't think he was anywhere. He was from New Jersey or something. I think he was probably from New Jersey. And he used to make this, but it's still delicious. I need orange juice right there. Pour it right in. Pour it in. Orange juice right there. Orange right in. Oops. And if you want to go crazy, you can always use orange liqueur, but we'll use orange juice. And then a little bit of sugar. How much? Just, it's a quarter of a cup. The whole thing? The whole thing. All right. Right in. Voila. Just, I'm going to mix it up like this, and then I let it marinate. Okay, so next is the topping. So first I'm going to make sour cream, brown sugar, and a little vanilla. This is the Perlman method of measuring. Yes, absolutely. Okay, good. So that's heavy cream that I whipped with confectioner of sugar. You want to send it over here? Oh, absolutely. And then what I'm going to do is, because it's not rich enough, I'm going to put the sour cream mixture into the heavy cream and mix it. And fold it in. And fold it perfectly. I made you know. Oh, you knew. Okay, I'm going to fold it. Do you want to fold it in? Sure, I'll have to fold it in. Okay. And so, doesn't that look good? Ugh. It smells just a little. You know, forget the strawberry. It's my favorite. I'm just going to eat this whole thing. That's the highest compliment. It's just perfect. Yeah. So I like to put it in martini glasses. Oh, really? How's that? What's your favorite dessert besides Storbringer's Romanoff? Seven layer cake. Oh, really? Oh, good. Or some of my daughter's cakes. They're very good. Oh, your daughter makes great cakes, doesn't she? Yeah, I like a simple cake. I like yellow cake. I like pound cake. Yeah, pound cake with white. Yeah, it's the best. With milk chocolate icing. Ooh. You know, I like that. Okay, I'm just going to put a dollop on each dessert. A dollop. A dollop. A dollop. That's an exact amount. I like a dollop. See if I can do the perfect dollop for you. You know the perfection here. It's called volume. How's that? Oh, that looks phenomenal. Sounds like I have a good dollop for you. Oh, yeah. Gentlemen, start your engines. Oh, my God. All right. I hope you love it. I will. I'm not saying anything because I'm too busy enjoying it. Oh, my God. I would say that's a compliment. It's like a concert. You know, it's a one-time experience. I think we need to rename this after my favorite prince, Strawberries Perlman. How's that? I think it's a great idea. I'm so glad. Absolutely a great idea. No, this is absolutely wonderful. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you.
