- [Jul] Today is a very special day.

I'm finally gonna learn how to make one of my all-time favorites, kufta, something I could not do alone.

I'll be meeting with the lovely and lively Joyce Kierejczyk, who's about to pass down her grandmother's signature recipe, the kind that's been perfected over generations.

So, yeah, no pressure, but get ready because we're about to step into the kitchen with a seriously regal kufta queen.

Hi, I'm Julianne, but you can call me Jul.

And this is "Jul's Armenian Kitchen."

The recipes of my childhood are beginning to fade with time, so I'm on a mission to learn the secrets and stories behind great Armenian home cooking, the way it's always been passed down in family kitchens right here in the Central Valley.

I'll learn how these proud Armenian families built their version of the American Dream in ways you won't find written down anywhere else.

And I'll be stepping right into their kitchens to see how it's really done.

There'll be great food and a few unexpected moments along the way.

We're gonna have a delicious time.

- [Narrator] Production funding for "Jul's Armenian Kitchen" is provided by Fowler Packing Company.

Three generations of family farming in California's Central Valley, bringing Peelz Citrus and Samsons Grapes to families nationwide.

More information at fowlerpacking.com.

Ohanyan's of Fresno.

For more than 40 years, Ohanyan's has preserved Armenian culinary traditions through handcrafted products rooted in heritage, quality, and craftsmanship.

What began in the Central Valley is now shared nationwide.

For more information, visit ohanyans.com.

(soft brassy music) - Well, welcome back.

I am so excited 'cause today, we're gonna make Joyce's kufta, which is basically the best meatball you've ever had.

I brought her some flowers and a retro jello mold 'cause we're bringing it back.

Joyce has been making and sharing dishes like this for years, so learning one of my favorite childhood dishes from her feels like a real gift.

After my warm welcome from Joyce, to my surprise at the table, I spy my cousin Steve.

Wait, is he stringing Armenian cheese?

What?

What are you doing here?

This is my cousin Steve Marashian.

Wait a minute, you like jello and you're string cheese?

- I love the cheese.

- Where is your wife?

She needs to see all of this.

- We all need.

- After our unexpected reunion, we jumped right into cooking.

So let's get cooking, shall we?

- We're good.

So let's get cooking.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

So we have 10 cups of onions in a half a pound of butter, and we're slowly caramelizing them.

And if you come and look close, you'll see there.

You know, there's something about Armenians and onions and peppers.

- That's right.

- Every dish starts with onions and then peppers, and mostly tomatoes.

- Right, that's the trifecta.

- Trifecta, yeah.

- That's right, okay.

- Everybody has mise en place, celery, onions, and carrots.

No, we have onions, tomatoes, and- - And peppers.

- peppers.

So this is a four-pepper kufta.

So as this caramelizes, once it caramelizes, then we add our meat.

Now this is ground lamb.

This is two pounds of ground lamb.

And I kind of did it before so we can just get it together.

- [Jul] Thank you.

That was very thoughtful.

- We'll put it.

Well, you know, usually when we make kufta, it's a whole week.

On Monday, we clean and chop the onions.

- Okay.

- And cook them because it took two hours to clean and chop all these onions.

And then we add the meat.

We brown the meat, add the meat.

- That's Tuesday?

- That's Monday.

- Monday still, okay.

- So Tuesday, we take and we put all this in the oven.

And as we put this in the oven, it's gonna caramelize even more, and then we're gonna season it 'cause right now all there is in there is butter, salt, and pepper.

- [Jul] Okay.

- [Joyce] And we want this to be, this is called Kharpertsi kufta.

- Okay, can you tell our viewers what that means, Kharpert?

- Kharpertsi is like a region of Armenia that is now located in Turkey.

But I always say, if you're Kharpertsi and you live in Turkey, you're still Armenian.

- [Jul] Right, that's right.

That's right.

- Kharpertsi is a region where all the, I always say the artists, the tailors, the dressmakers, the people who dyed cloth, the weavers, the carpet, all those people came from Kharpertsi - [Jul] Okay.

- Anyway, so this is gonna cook down.

Now as this cooks down, we're going to add our parsley and our Rajan, all our seasonings.

See, it's starting to cook.

Look at that.

Isn't that looking good?

- That's gorgeous.

♪ Beautiful ♪ - [Joyce] Okay, that's good.

All right, you wanna cut some parsley?

- [Jul] Sure.

- Okay, so this is where, this is right here is called Rajan.

And this is actually my mother's jar.

- [Jul] Aw.

- This was her Rajan jar.

And if you look at, here, smell that.

- Oh, that really does smell good.

- Doesn't it smell good?

- Yeah, that's beautiful.

What was- - This is called Armenian gold.

- Oh.

(laughs) Wait, what was your mother's name?

- Vivian.

- Vivian.

- Yeah.

- Aw, is this Vivian's recipe we're making?

- Yes.

- Aw.

- But she got it from my mother, her mother-in-law.

- Oh, okay.

- Because my grandma Yelsa was the kufta queen.

- Oh really?

- Yeah.

- Like you.

- So you see all this like this?

See this Rajan?

- Yeah.

- Smells delicious.

- Oh, you just crush it right up and put it in?

- [Joyce] You never crush it before.

- [Jul] Oh, interesting.

- [Joyce] Well, you lose the flavor.

- [Jul] Oh, okay.

- So you crush it, and look at that.

Oh, come smell this now.

Now smell it with it.

Smell that.

- Mm, it's got this kind of floral aspect.

- Oh, wanna smell?

Can you see that?

Oh.

- [Jul] It's got a floral aspect to it now.

- Yeah.

Well it's a certain kind of basil.

I don't know what, but.

This is red pepper.

This is called Annette's red pepper, the best from 820.

I've had pepper as long as 20 years.

If it's good pepper, you only use it for the good stuff.

And so what this is is at the end of the season, when the green peppers turn red, that she cuts it and you dry it.

And when you cut it, you see how it's all red, there's no white in it.

So all the white membrane- - Mm.

- is taken out.

- Interesting.

- Tastes just like red.

Put your finger in it and taste it.

It's good.

- Mm, - Can't have too much red pepper.

- Mm.

There's so much flavor in it.

- So that's- - Oh my gosh.

- that's pepper- - It's really concentrated.

- Yeah, that's pepper number two.

- Mm, okay.

Wow, this is like, so there's- - You've already got an Armenian real pepper, then this is, I'd never heard of this, but boy do I like it.

It's called Aleppo pepper.

And smell that.

- Yeah, I use that sometimes.

Yeah, that's nice.

- Mm.

- That's a nice one.

- it's not too hot.

That's why I like it.

- Yeah.

- It's not too, too hot.

- And you know, my mom always said, "Make everything a little hotter because when it cooks, it mellows out."

- Oh, interesting.

- Yeah.

Well, and you have to have taste.

Hey, the older you get, you start using your taste, but you need it to have a little zip.

- Okay, sounds good.

I'm ready for it.

- Okay, and then the last pepper is cayenne.

Hotter than hooch.

It's hot.

I don't think you should supposed to say that, but, yeah.

That's okay.

You can say whatever you want, darling.

- They can edit me out for anything.

Okay, so then that's done.

And then I like to add a little bit of garlic powder.

I think it just needs a little powder.

- Okay.

- Little powder.

Okay, that's good.

And probably a little more salt.

And that's about a teaspoon of salt.

That sounds good.

- [Jul] Okay, how am I doing on the parsley?

- You're doing good.

- How much do you need?

- Throw it in there?

- Is it- - More.

No, that's good.

- Just like fine.

- Yeah, that's fine.

- All right.

Okay, here it goes.

- Yeah, put it in there.

Look at that, oh.

- More still?

You want it all?

- More, more.

Yeah, all of it.

- Okay.

- All of it.

- All of it, okay.

- All right.

- Actually, I may have you cut another bunch.

- Okay, you want me to do another bunch?

- Parsley disintegrates, so, you know... - Okay, another bunch?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- This is for the people who don't eat vegetables.

At least they'll get parsley.

- [Jul] Oh.

(laughs) - When in doubt, put more parsley in everything.

- That's smart.

- Yeah, you got to have parsley.

- You got to have your greens.

- Yeah, the secret to this is add more butter.

- More still?

- Yeah, oh yeah.

It doesn't have butter.

And don't worry.

There's no cholesterol in this butter.

It's just butter.

- I don't think I can unsee that, Joyce.

- Huh?

(Jul laughs) - I can't unsee that, Joyce.

(laughs) - That butter?

- That amount.

Oh no.

- Well, I've already- - I only got one.

- cooked the onions in two cubes of butter.

There's only a pound of butter in this.

The old country saying was, if when you cut your kufta open, that butter didn't squirt out, you were cheap.

(Jul gasps and laughs) You know, what's butter?

You just put more butter in it.

No one does it.

This is a lot of work.

- [Jul] Right, I mean... - But it's a lovely work because the best part is when you get to make it.

Okay.

- All right.

- Throw that in there.

That's good.

- Okay.

- We got to get this in the oven.

- We got to get this show on the road.

Okay.

- Yep, all right.

We don't have all day.

We don't have all week.

- [Jul] Okay, let's do it.

(laughing) - All right.

So this, now look at how good this looks.

- This looks really good.

- So now we're going to cook this down until it's caramelized again.

Let's put this in the oven, because it's gonna now look like this, and we're gonna cook this probably for a couple of hours.

And once that's nice and caramelized and brown, and the butter is floating on the top, and if there's not butter floating on the top, you add another cube.

There's never enough butter in kufta purn.

So you just keep adding the butter, and don't listen to what anybody has to tell you because more butter is better.

- [Jul] We started with our chopped onions and ground lamb before adding in the peppers and parsley.

But when it comes to making kufta, never forget the wise words of Joyce.

- More butter is better.

You cannot have enough butter.

- [Jul] Now, while that cooks in the oven, let's go check on Cousin Steve, who's stringing our cheese for later.

The cheese typically starts as a braid that needs to be pulled apart into thin strands.

The thinner, the better.

Steve's doing a wonderful job.

and his wife would be very proud.

- Okay, it's been about two hours, and our purn, which is the filling, has been cooking and caramelizing.

Now we're gonna take it out and let it chill, and then we're going to make the balls for the insides of our kufta.

So let's get it out of the oven.

Oh my God.

It's perfect.

- Woo.

- Look at that, see how it's caramelizing?

It's just starting to brown on the top.

- Oh my God.

- Oh, we got to get a spoon and taste this.

- Oh, yes we do.

- Oh that's, yeah.

Look at this.

Look at that.

- Oh, Joyce.

Oh my God.

- Now smell it.

(Jul sniffs) - Oh my God.

- Oh, heaven, heaven.

- [Jul] That is the smell of the taste.

And of course, it wouldn't be Joyce's kufta without one more cube of butter.

Once that's in, we mix everything together using a masher to make sure the meat and the onions are all the same consistency.

Then it goes into the fridge to chill because it's got to be cold to form the balls.

- All righty, so we are now using fine bulgur.

Bulgur is cracked wheat that has been steamed and dried and then it's ground.

This is called number 1.

It's the finest.

Number 4 is what you use to make pilaf.

So we're gonna put in one cup of that, two cups, and a half a more.

- Okay.

- Okay, that's good.

So we have our bulgur in.

Then we have to add our seasonings, and we add in, oh, we're gonna put in some pepper, like a half a teaspoon of pepper.

And for every pound of meat, you really are supposed to put in a teaspoon of salt.

- Teaspoon, okay.

I heard that.

I wasn't sure if that was right.

- [Joyce] Yeah, teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of pepper.

- [Jul] Okay.

- I like to put just a little pinch of that, and then this is what makes it beautiful on the outside.

And, oh, smell this.

- Is that that- - It's dry roasted red pepper.

- Oh.

- It just smells so good, and we put that in there.

So now we're going to take and put water.

What we wanna do is bloom or soften the bulgur because now when we use the bulgur with the meat, we want the gluten of the bulgur to come out to hold the meat together.

- Okay.

- And I'll show you how to do that.

- [Jul] Isn't it amazing to learn these secrets?

As far as I'm concerned, you're just sharing all of your secrets.

- Well, you know what?

I think as people my age, we should share our secrets because I want you to be able to make this.

Okay, so we're gonna add to our 2 1/2 cups of bulgur, we're gonna add 3 cups of water.

And Julianne, you can mix that.

- Okay.

- Mix that up.

Yeah, just mix it up.

- Okay.

- So now while that is blooming, that means it's soaking up the water, we're gonna do our purn balls.

And then we will add this to our meat, and this is keyma meat.

This meat is ground three times.

It's usually in a specific grinder that they only use for keyma, which is really important because normally we would eat this raw.

- Right, that's right.

- Yeah.

Saturdays you eat keyma at any of the Armenian restaurants, or you make it at home.

- [Jul] Now that our bulgur has started to bloom, it's time for us to add our meat, ice, and mix.

- You know, I have my mother's recipes and my aunts', and I have a book from 1914 of recipes.

- Whoa.

- And I brought it out today.

Use a spoon, and they would call this a lagan spoon.

It's one spoon of that.

Is your spoon the same spoon as my spoon?

- No, no.

- I never understood that.

And I would say, "I think you have to measure it."

And they go, "No, no, you just put a spoon in.

You'll see.

You'll know how it feels."

Well, if I don't even know how the recipe is, I don't know how it feels.

- [Jul] And that's why I wanted to make this show, to learn from cooks like Joyce.

She even let me her cookbook after our visit.

- Yeah, and I'm glad you're doing it.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- Because we need someone to document and keep this going.

'Cause even now, when I look at our old church cookbooks, we'll use a can of some- - I don't know.

What size of can?

- a can.

- How many ounces?

- What size can?

- I know, I know.

- Nope, there's no can.

And two spoons of sugar.

- What size of spoon?

- Well I, you don't- - I know, I know.

- I have no idea what it is.

- I know, it's rough.

It is rough.

(laughs) - So if you look at this now, you'll see this is really starting, the bulgur and the meat are coming together.

- Yes, beautiful.

- And what we want, and let me just stop and we'll look at it.

- Okay.

- When we pull out a piece of it, see, it's not very stringy.

- [Jul] Yeah.

- There's a little bit of string in there, but it needs to be stringier.

That's the gluten holding it together 'cause when you go to form this- - You need that.

- you need that.

- So how do you, if it's not stringy, let's say I'm making it and I see that it's not stringy, what do I do?

Just keep mixing it- - You keep mixing it.

Yeah.

- until it gets stringy?

While we were waiting for our kufta filling, or purn, to cool, we made the same dish but in trays, which is called sini kufta.

As we were doing that, Joyce told me the stories of her family's experiences with the Armenian genocide, specifically her great aunt and her experiences with the Armenian genocide.

And if you wonder why I'm looking down during this segment, it's because I had to.

Otherwise, I was going to cry.

- When I was a child, no one ever talked about the genocide.

No one talked about the atrocities that these people lived and went through.

- My family too.

They didn't talk about it.

- And if they did talk about it, it was in Turkish or some kind of Armenian you wouldn't understand.

- Exactly.

- And she lost her children, and she lost her eye, and she was on that long march.

And that march was all the women and children who walked, and the strong survived.

I mean, when you think about it, the weak ones didn't survive.

They died along the way.

And I did a art show about the women and children walking.

And people came up to me and told me their stories of their grandparents.

My grandparents never spoke of the genocide.

Never.

As a child, I never heard it.

But today I know a lot about it because now we're all talking about it.

But in those days, why were they always so sad?

Why was Grandma sad?

Why did she have that, (hums) you know, pursed lips, and she's holding on her beads and she's, she's praying for her dead children.

You know, PTSD, she's got that.

We're Protestant, and I'm very proud of that.

I mean, you can either be apostolic or Protestant, but the missionaries came to Armenia from England, Germany.

My grandmother's teacher was German, and she taught them.

She gave them an education.

And with that education, you know, they thrived.

I mean, they could read.

They could read English.

They came here.

My grandparents never wanted to speak Armenian again.

And I was little and I talked the most.

I taught them how to speak English.

I mean, I've gone to Armenia twice.

I loved it.

I wanted my girls to see exactly where I came from and why am I like the way I am.

And the first thing I told them, we went to a concert and we're sitting there, beautiful classical music.

A little, some Armenian.

I don't know what kind of music.

it was great music.

But everybody's sitting there, and these two little ladies, start in the middle.

Make a big X.

- Sorry.

(laughs) - Okay, I'm watching.

(Jul laughing) The music started, and these ladies started humming.

(gasps) I looked at my kids.

I said, "That's why I hum."

I said, "Because I send us.

That's how we are."

That music we hear, it comes out.

We either can dance, hum, sing along, but there's something about the music that just brings that out.

- Yes.

- I mean, I just, there were so many things.

Going there and seeing the table full of food.

- Oh, I bet.

- I mean, have you been to Armenia?

- No, my dad just went, but I haven't gone.

- Really?

- [Joyce] You need to go.

- I intend to.

- And take your daughter.

- [Jul] I intend to.

Yeah, I know, for sure.

- It's life-altering.

I mean, I went one year, and then two years later, I said, "I think I'm going back to Armenia."

We did Habitat for Humanity.

It was great.

And we built a house in Gyumri, 'cause that's where the earthquake was, and- - How's about, sorry.

- That looks adorable.

Look at this.

Sorry, I didn't mean- - Look at this.

- to interrupt you.

- Two pans of sini kufta.

Is that just the cutest?

- [Jul] Okay, let's shift gears now and start rolling that kufta with Joyce.

- See the shape of that?

- Mm-hmm.

- It's not a ball.

It's kind of like Saturn.

Just cup your hands.

- Cup my hands.

- Don't keep your hands flat just like your cradling a baby's chin.

- Aw, sweet.

- Oh.

You love babies.

- [Jul] I know Steve wanted to learn this next part, though, so let's go get him.

- So we're making now, now we've made our kufta meat.

This is three times ground meat, and then we put it in with the bulgur into the mixer, and we put our seasonings in it, and now we have our balls.

We're measuring them out to 3/4 of a cup.

Here's your ball.

- 3/4 of a cup each one?

- No, third of a cup.

- Third of a cup.

- That's what's said.

- Okay.

- Third of a cup.

- Okay, okay.

- Yeah.

Just close your eyes for a minute and roll it in your hands.

Kind of make it a ball, 'cause you really wanna start with a ball.

And then you're gonna take your thumb and put your thumb down in it, okay?

Put your thumb in it.

Now this is where the tricky part is.

Close your eyes and start going.

I go clockwise.

And you just pinch it and you push it up.

It's climbing up on your thumb.

So as you keep going around, and you can tell, come up a little bit, come up a little bit, pinch it and come up, pinch it and come up.

And look it, you have a vessel.

Beautiful.

You gotta go dig down more.

- Go dig here.

- You gotta get it thinner.

You have to have thinner walls.

Keep going.

You're almost there, 'cause you got all this purn to put in there.

♪ 'Cause I'm almost there ♪ - [Joyce] Almost there.

♪ I'm almost there ♪ ♪ Almost there ♪ (Jul laughing) - Almost sounds like a song from the '60s.

- You know, that's from that Disney movie.

How's that?

- That's too thick.

Keep going.

(Jul laughing) Keep going.

(Steve speaking faintly) You got to be able to put this purn in there.

(Jul humming) Okay, so now you really got it.

Now you're gonna just pinch it up and close it.

Start pinching it up.

You got to cover all the way to there.

That's why you got to start.

- [Jul] Okay, all right.

- Look at, okay.

You're almost there now.

Close your eyes and just roll it in your hands.

Oh.

(Jul laughing) Oh, those Armenian ladies, oh.

(Jul laughing) Roll it.

You're patting it.

There you go.

(Jul giggles) Pat it.

- I should be patting it.

- Pat it, okay.

There, and it's perfect.

Put it right here.

- Oh my God, I never thought- - Look at that.

- I would learn how to do this.

I really never thought I would.

- Now, I want you to see, now I want your hand, look at.

I want to see.

There, see how your hand is right there?

- Oh.

- Put it there.

Now take this side of this hand now, gently, just, (hums).

- Oh, I see.

Like that.

- You're patting it.

You're shoveling it You gotta.

You can't have a.

(Jul laughing) They call it spinning, spinning, spinning.

- How about it?

(Joyce gasps) Beautiful.

- Oh.

- Look at this.

(Jul laughing) Oh my God, the kufta queen.

(Jul cheering) All right, let's make another one.

- Come on.

We all know Joyce is the real kufta queen.

Who else makes 110 dozen in a pop?

Joyce, don't you make, like thousands of these?

- Yeah, a couple of years ago, our youth group at church was going to Armenia for the first time, and this other woman said, "Let's make kufta."

She said, "We'll make a hundred dozen."

I looked at her and I thought, "That's 150 pounds of onions."

(Jul laughing) And actually, we bought 200.

- You said you sell those.

- Well, we did.

We funded the kufta, and we had our parishioners, we sold a hundred dozen in no time.

They bought it all.

Thursday, we took off because Friday this one market makes fresh keyma meat, and we bought a hundred pounds 'cause one pound makes about a dozen, yeah.

The guy goes, "How many pounds do you want?"

I said, "A hundred.

We'll start with a hundred."

I said, "We're gonna be"- - We'll start with a hundred.

- Let's start with a hundred.

And we had enough balls to make 100 dozen.

- Okay, this kufta is ready, and I'm hungry.

Now just cook that kufta in your favorite choice of broth, serve, and dig in.

All right, so let's dig into our kufta.

- Oh, it looks good.

- And then for our viewers, we also have, courtesy of the lovely Joyce and her amazing hospitality, we have some string cheese.

And thank you, Steve.

- Oh yeah.

- I got an A+.

- You did.

- Yeah.

- [Steve] Got an A+.

- We have some hummus, some basturma, which is a cured meat, a fillet, right?

It's cured with spices- - Mm-hmm, correct.

- and it's absolutely divine.

And we have some yalanchi, or grape leaves, rolled up with, these are vegetarian, right?

- Yeah.

- Mm-hmm, that's right.

- They're cold.

They have just onions and rice and parsley- - Lovely.

- and seasoning and lemon.

- It's pretty much everything you need.

Oh, we have some lavash, and we wet it already.

- So then you can take your lavash and break it easier and put some cheese on it.

- Mm.

- Mm-hmm.

- [Jul] Mm.

You know- - [Joyce] How is it?

- It's amazing.

I don't think I've ever, I don't think I've had it fresh since I was little.

- Really?

- Mm-hmm.

Because going to Christmas, my aunt's mom, beloved Sue Hagopian, would make them fresh.

But since then, I've only ever had frozen 'cause I had to buy them.

Now I don't have to buy them anymore.

- Everybody makes it different.

- Mm-hmm, it's true, it's true.

- As far as- - Just talking about with the perfect spices.

- It's perfect.

- It's perfect spices on this.

- I mean, it's perfect to my memory.

You know, that's the thing.

It completely equates to my memory of how it should taste.

And that's what's so exciting.

You know, I was so worried thinking, "What if we can't taste those things again, you know?"

But we can.

- But we can, and with your cookbook, we will be able to do it.

- And that happens.

- You're doing a cookbook?

- I'm gonna do a cookbook, I guess.

(laughs) - Oh yeah, yeah.

(laughs) (Jul and Steve laughing) - This is good.

- If we have any slogan for today, it's definitely, "More butter is better."

- More butter is better.

(Jul and Steve laughs) - Yeah, that's a good one.

- And I might also mention, "Go big or go home," which was another... (laughs) - Yeah, that is another good one too.

- Joyce- - That's what I might have been thought.

- words to look back from Joyce Kierejczyk.

More butter is better.

- I'll never look at butter the same.

- Oh yeah?

(laughs) - Now I love butter.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Production funding for "Jul's Armenian Kitchen" is provided by Fowler Packing Company.

Three generations of family farming in California's Central Valley, bringing Peelz Citrus and Samsons Grapes to families nationwide.

More information at fowlerpacking.com.

Ohanyan's of Fresno.

For more than 40 years, Ohanyan's has preserved Armenian culinary traditions through handcrafted products rooted in heritage, quality, and craftsmanship.

What began in the Central Valley is now shared nationwide.

For more information, visit ohanyans.com.