I'm Hilah and today on Hilah cooking

we're making Beer Cheese Soup.

That's kind of a weird one.

But, it ties in to a tale,

an American History tale,

that you're going to hear about

George Washington crossing the Delaware,

and it happened on a very special day.

And to tell the tale, ladies and gentlemen,

my friend,

historian,

comedian,

Dawn Brody, everyone!

- Hi!

Hi, hi. Thanks for having me.

- Hey Dawn.

- I blew it. - You kinda blew it.

- I'll do it over here.

- Yeah, yeah try that again.

(upbeat music)

- I'm so excited to be here.

(laughing)

I am. I love soup,

I love beer, I love cheese.

- It was your idea to make this soup in the first place.

- I know!

Because anytime somebody says, "What should we make?"

I'm like Chex Mix, beer cheese soup.

Those are my two things.

(laughing)

But I was like, you're way too sophisticated a cook.

You're a chef. You don't request Chex Mix.

I'm a chef.

- So beer cheese soup it is.

- Which is I know still probably pretty pedestrian.

- Dude, I tested it the other day.

It was delicious. - Yeah!

- I was, I've never even eaten beer cheese soup.

- Now, I'm from rural Wisconsin.

And beer cheese soup, if there's a crock pot in a bar...

- What? Really?

- It probably has beer cheese soup in it.

- And you just go serve yourself soup,

out of a crock pot in a bar?

- Mm hmm.

- I'm gonna start sauteing some vegetables.

Did you know there's vegetables in this soup?

- Sure, some people put vegetables in it.

No, it's good. I actually, is it,

are you putting carrots vegetables in it?

- I am.

- Yeah. Yeah. - Oh, okay.

- Carrots. Very common.

- So, I'm gonna saute-- - I like the amount of butter.

This is already a great start.

- Yeah, I put in half a stick.

I think you could do more.

And then I'm gonna add some leeks.

I hope that's,

I realized too late I didn't have enough onions.

But I had leeks.

- Leeks are great!

- Okay, so I put leeks--

- Like I know!

- and carrots.

My people approve!

(laughing)

Great.

- I'm gonna add a little bit of salt,

to help it soften up.

- Oooh, it already smells so good!

- So, this is gonna cook for 10 minutes.

Which I think is plenty of time,

for us to hear your American Tale.

So Dawn actually is an historian.

- Yes.

- And also an actor and a comedian.

So she tells very interesting historical tales.

- And, am I allowed to swear on your show?

- Yes.

- Because that's the fact is that some of this is nuts.

So before we even knew how many guys we had,

or how many guns we had,

we are going up against the biggest, baddest military

in the history of human civilization.

- Britain?

- Britain. - Really?

- They have more boats, more guys,

they've won more. They've been fighting wars,

against the Spanish, the French,

on land and at sea.

- They've just been kicking everybody's ass?

- For hundreds of years!

Forever!

They are strong. They have military.

And, the only thing we Colonial Americans

know about the military,

we learned from Britain.

Before we signed the Declaration of Independence,

but we're starting to think

maybe we're going to war with these.

I know, that's a big word.

- But in Britain, it actually means friend.

- Oh, so yeah! (both laughing)

- Frenemies! - Technically.

We were like, Oh my gosh,

we're actually gonna go to war with these guys.

We need to know who's gonna be in charge of the military.

And George Washington just shows up

(doorbell ringing)

in the Continental Congress everyday,

wearing his General's uniform.

And so they'd be like,

ugh! What are we gonna do?

We have these problems, we need the Independence written,

but we don't have anyone to lead the army!

You know?

And then, when he takes the job,

he says, "Let me explain something.

"I don't think I'm good enough for this.

"And I don't know if we can win."

- Holy shit, you never see that kind of humility.

- (whispering) I know.

(normal voice) So he, first thing he does,

in marches, as General, is he

Boston!

You're a Boston Grad.

- Yep. Went to Boston.

I didn't graduate.

But thanks. - Not important.

Not important!

(both laughing)

But the city of Boston, as you know, rich,

right there on the pivotal axis of all of the stuff.

So the British are like, "Oh. No, you won!

"That's nuts. I mean to be fair,

"we didn't think there was any chance

"you were even gonna try."

But then they do take New York.

- Wait, the British take New York?

- Oh, God yeah.

- Ohh, so they were like, "You can have Boston,

"we're gonna take this one."

- Well, yeah kinda. I mean, it was like,

we fought really hard. They were just like,

"We can't lose in New York!"

And we did. (snaps fingers) And it was such a bummer.

We lost it because George Washington screwed up.

He wasn't being a very good General.

And so, now it's getting cold now.

End of November, we leave New York.

And leaving New York meant, we don't have any tents,

stoves, wood, food, women-- - Still no shoes.

- Booze,

beer!

- Oh! - Which George Washington...

- That ties into our recipe.

- One of his first orders as Commander in Chief,

was that every Colonial soldier got a quart of beer a day.

- Oh, that's good. - I know.

- It's vitamins.

- Yeah! And you can't drink the water.

That'll kill ya.

- Well, and I did read, when I was researching this

that old beer, like the old timey beer,

was unfiltered, so it actually had a lot more--

- Nutrients.

- Yeah!

Vitamin B and like that.

- It was really nutritious, it was good,

it was good for you.

It was way, like you said, way healthier than water.

- Wholesome. - Most of the time. Wholesome.

And fun!

- Okay, so I'm gonna put in a little bit of flour,

and this is gonna thicken up our soup.

And I realized, I was so engrossed,

I forgot to put in the garlic.

So I'm gonna put some garlic in now.

I don't think it's too late.

- It's never too late for garlic.

- Is this looking familiar?

- Yeah!

It's really, it smells so good.

And I think it's hard to screw up.

- Oh, this smells so good.

- I know, right?

- We had some accidents.

- These things happen. - They happen.

- They happen all the time.

- You're drinkin' and talkin'.

Okay, so the flour in here is cooked.

I'm gonna add this yummy vegetable stock that I made

that looks cloudy but it's not.

It's just, it is cloudy,

but it's just because it's homemade,

and I didn't filter it through--

- You make your own?

See, you are a professional.

- A true, - She's the real deal!

- Chef.

This is gonna be good. - Yeeeah.

- Okay, so before you forget about the Delaware,

I'm also going to add some spices.

Some dry mustard. Does that sound right?

- Yeah! In fact,

- I did it last time and it was good.

- Wisconsin is home to the mustard museum.

- No!

- Yeah, it's a weird little sideshow place.

- I'll have to check that out.

- You can make your own mustard seasoning

and put it in a bottle.

- Oh my gosh. Mail it to a farm and,

all right, I added some white pepper

and a dash of cayenne.

Okay and then we're just gonna let this simmer and thicken

while we hear the Tale of the Delaware.

- Okay. So, we left George Washington,

and our Revolutionary Army, leaving New York,

- In a shit-storm. - In tatters.

- So Washington's like, "We gotta do something good!"

He's heard that the Brits and the Hessians

are on the other side of the Delaware River,

in Trenton, New Jersey.

And his collection of soldiers are on the Pennsylvania side.

Of the Delaware River. - And the Hessians are

Germans?

- So glad you asked that. Yes!

Not only are Hessians Germans,

they're German mercenaries.

- So they're trained fighters?

- Trained fighters. Hired and paid by Britain,

- Ohh!! - Just to kill Americans.

- That's why Britains aren't even so tough.

- Well, part of it for sure.

- And the Hessians were mean!

'Cause that was their job.

So they're stationed over there

- No way. - in Trenton, New Jersey,

and the Brits have left for the winter.

In fact, some of them started to sail back to England.

'Cause they're like, "This is pretty much (brushes hands)

"wrapped up! Let's go!"

And so, Washington's like, "We can't, we'll die this winter.

"We can't just wait around here until spring to fight,

"like everyone else.

"We're gonna have to do something serious."

So he is like, "Everyone needs to come to me.

"Come to this side of the Delaware.

"We're gonna make a decisive attack.

"We need the military to come and gather here."

And so, long fascinating story

about how long it takes to get there.

But ultimately, as many guys are as available,

show up. And so, on December 20th,

a bunch of new troops arrive, that's good news,

that bolsters things.

He's like, "There's a few guys down=river from us,

"at this Mount Holly. Let's see what they're doing.

"Maybe they can come and join us.

Goes down to Mount Holly, and these guys,

ugh! - Not interested?

- They're even hungrier.

And they're just like, "Oh, hi."

- They're all like (imitates coughing).