what a great episode 1. a peak at his new bar 2. a bunch of sous chef erik's pancettas 3. top tier camera work 4. *“One does not simply guac in the mortar”*
I think kenji was careful to not show the spot where he tied up Sous chef Eric and stuffed him there for later use to prepare some more pancetta & picked chilli 😁
Hi, my name is Eric and I’m a nurse north of Boston. I may be on the complete opposite side of the country but I wanted to say thank you for delivering meals to hospitals. It’s been literal hell for us right now and it really makes me happy to see people like you helping. Seeing all these people protesting and saying it’s no big deal has really been upsetting me but seeing this shows me that people actually care. I’m not sure if you’ll read this or not but thank you for caring. I hope those meals go to somebody struggling during this time and it inspires them to keep on working. Thank you.
I stumbled upon these videos during quarantine and thus far I’ve attempted three of your recipes for my family (tomato soup, sauerkraut quesadillas, eggs Benedict) and all three were a massive hit! I’ll be trying this one next. Just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to record your work, explain the science in real-time, and editing/posting your recipes. Our family has really enjoyed spending time together over these recipes!
I love how substitutions are made of he happens not to have something. Let’s new cooks know it’s not an exact science and it’s okay to do things slightly different if you need.
can someone explain the joke/pun to me? im from germany so i have quite a hard time with understanding jokes (due to my english, not cause im german! :D)
I think Kenji understates how awesome it is what he's doing in response to the crisis. Not only has he made an effort to keep on staff he's also providing free meals for key workers no idea how he's financially coping with that but kudos!!!
Someone commented on the last video about sous chef Eric being locked up in the basement of the restaurant, and in this episode Kenji goes around showing off entire hidden bars in the basement of wursthall... interesting.
And just like that, Kenji told me what I'd been doing wrong with my Dan Dan noodles - I made the sauce the thickness I wanted it to end at, rather than soupy enough that the cooling noodles would thicken it. And he did it all in the same video with the best dad joke I've heard in a year. What a hero.
Hi Kenji, I just wanted to add my thanks to you for these videos which are so enjoyable to watch. They are also extremely educational, often especially so in the informative and oft-amusing asides and tangents. You are a wonderful, gifted teacher and I hope that you keep educating for as long as it’s fun for you.
Fresh mustard greens are available at most grocery stores. I chop them up nice and fine, then lactoferment them like I'm making fresh kraut. A+ ingredient for dan dan noodles. Also surprisingly good way to convert a 50 cent pack of spicy instant noodles into something really good.
@@JKenjiLopezAlt Egads! the dastardly apostrophe strikes again. :) Ok, that makes sense, along the same lines as a courts-martial. thought there was a time I think our stirs-fried might have been able to stir-fry something itself, too much of a friends experiment with turning ghost and reaper peppers into flakes.
Hawksmoor in the UK have a cocktail called ‘Shakey Pete’s Ginger Brew’ which is essentially alcoholic ginger beer, and it’s excellent. It requires ginger syrup, which you can make with these scraps.
Kenji you are the best, sir. The fact that you have all these great recipes and tricks and techniques is so rad, but then you just give them to us for free. Just wanted to say I appreciate you.
You are killing me... you are throwing out all the receipts I ever wanted to get but couldn`t really find them or thought they are not even close to the real dish. Good job well done and thank you very much
Some fermented funk from sauerkraut is on point, but there's a really pleasant herbal character you won't get from olives or even capers added to the mustard green approximation mix
Would love it if you could make a video talking about different seasonings, their flavor profiles, best way to bring out their flavours (to toast or not to toast, to grind or not to grind) and what kind of dishes to use them in.
I've only discovered your channel recently and instantly able to connect with it. I really like your nuggets of wisdom and philosophies throughout. "Sometimes I use a spoon, too, you know. Depending on what mood you are in" or "Not traditional but I like it that way". Totally onboard.
These videos are always bursting to the seams with tips and info. And it’s info that you know is reliable rather than old wives tales (not that old wives tales are necessarily untrustworthy!)
I’m making the Dan Dan noodle recipe from “The Wok” cookbook this week and this video got me extra pumped!! Curious of the timing between you writing the cookbook and this video as the commentary between both are similar. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and tips with us, Kenji!
You give me hope for compassionate cooking. You are one of the few chefs I see on this website who really understands the emotional, historical importance of cooking. Great stuff
Thanks a lot for always mentioning alternatives for hard to find ingredients! Where I live one does not simply walk into an Asian grocery store 😁 (because they're hard to find around here)
Too many cooking shows, you hear the cook say: "You CAN'T do it that way. You MUST do it this way, or [heaven forbid' it's not 'authentic.' " For example, there's a whole series of videos about Italian cooking where one Italian cook criticizes another cook's way of doing things ... even when the other chef is Italian or an Italian-American making their grandparent's recipe from the old country. I know from my grandparents who were from San Bartolomeo and Pozzoli and who made their living in America running an Italian restaurant, that wasn't the way they did it. They had their preferences about how to do things and what indgredients they wanted to use. But when they couldn't get that one thing, they used another. The two "authentic" things about their Italian cooking were that you used what you had, and you never wasted anything. One thing I like about Kenji is that his attitude about cooking reminds me of that: "If you don't have this, you can use that." "If you can't find this ingredient, the next best things you can use is that ... or a combination of this, that, and the other." "If you want, at this point you can add that." "I do it this way, but you also do it this other way and get the same effect or something close. to it" "I like this, but that other way is good too." "I didn't have this in the kitchen today, but I had that, and that works too." "It you want, at this point, you can add this green, or that green, and that other green is good too." Reminds me of Grandma Rosa and Grandpa Salvatore.
I have a little marble mortar and pestle almost the same as your daughters for my herbal tinctures, found it for a dollar years ago in a 2nd hand store. I upgraded a few years ago to a large marble one for guac and hummus. Kept my small one of course but the big one is awesome and I swear guac tastes better when served from it!
I really enjoy watching your videos, you have such a nice way of explaining what you are doing and always also are giving great tips on what other ingredients you can use if you dont have all the ingredients at hand. keep up the good work. I'm a big fan.
I like that you called this your cooking show. Very cool, to just name it, and that yes you have a "television" show. Great content and fun channel. Thanks for sharing.
9:47 So my understanding is that a lot of Sichuan cooking wants this flavor. Chefs like Wang Gang save all the smoking oil and most translations specifically call for "heated oil." Of course, they're also using a different kind of oil. Chinese Cooking Demystified on Cai Zi You.
Thank you Kenji for the amazing food I used your recipe and am glad to say it is peak tastiness me and my brother want to start a restaurant and this will definitely be on the menu
When I was in Tokyo 3 years ago at an izakaya that had dan dan as a special they added kewpie mayo to the base, made it even creamier and carbonara like on the noodles.
6:13 the amount of time it took you to remember what you went into the walk-in for is extremely impressive - you have a high level walk-in door magic resistance (if you know, you know)
thanks for diving into chinese foods! sadly, a lot of restaurants seem to take it too far on the soupy side with a lot of noodle dishes. It's been tough finding a place that won't serve something like this or zha jiang mian absolutely swimming in sauce.
I notice that the basic components of this dish are similar to the peanut & chicken noodle salad video from ~2 weeks ago. The sauces for both start with a sesame base with hot water, flavored with soy sauce, black vinegar, and chili oil. What exactly are the characteristic differences between these two dishes (toppings, ratios of the ingredients in the sauce, ratio of sauce to noodle, etc.) that distinguish them from one another?
This looks great! I like mine with extra spice as well. Also, great beer selection again. That Blind Pig probably went super well with the dan dan noodles.
I love the contrast between you cooking at home and your restaurant. At home you usually scrape every last piece into the dish but here you leave some noticeable size chunks in the mortar and pestle. Not saying your going to waste it but it's interesting to see the restaurant chef mind vs the home chef mind.
I like to imagine this is a Fight Club scenario where sous chef Eric doesn't actually exist. Its just insomniac Kenji with a pancetta obsession.
Andrew Bryant SEASON TWO
LOLOL best comment ive read
Mind. Blown.
i think his family is made up too. you never see or hear them but he talks to them
hahahahaha
what a great episode
1. a peak at his new bar
2. a bunch of sous chef erik's pancettas
3. top tier camera work
4. *“One does not simply guac in the mortar”*
I think kenji was careful to not show the spot where he tied up Sous chef Eric and stuffed him there for later use to prepare some more pancetta & picked chilli 😁
@@Mahasahara 😂😂
These videos have been my favorite for the last few weeks. So great.
peek*
@@jsun1993 Seriously hoping you missed the part where she is only three??? Regardless of her age it's the man's daughter, show some class.
Hi, my name is Eric and I’m a nurse north of Boston. I may be on the complete opposite side of the country but I wanted to say thank you for delivering meals to hospitals. It’s been literal hell for us right now and it really makes me happy to see people like you helping. Seeing all these people protesting and saying it’s no big deal has really been upsetting me but seeing this shows me that people actually care. I’m not sure if you’ll read this or not but thank you for caring. I hope those meals go to somebody struggling during this time and it inspires them to keep on working. Thank you.
The part that i admire is the only reason he showed us this was because he was going downstairs anyway to get garlic, humble people are the best
SOUS CHEF ERIC!
we found him
TopHatCobra you’re the inspiration here. Thank you so much for everything, it’s truly appreciated.
WE FOUND HIS BROTHER, it is NURSE ERICCCC! Btw Thank you.
"Hey everyone this is Kenji..."
*sigh* he has such a way with words
He talks to us like he is talking to his kid or his dogs. And that’s a beautiful thing.
"Boop"
I wonder why Mr and Mrs Eric named their child Souschef.
That's hilarious! Wow
Lol
They knew his true calling at birth
I stumbled upon these videos during quarantine and thus far I’ve attempted three of your recipes for my family (tomato soup, sauerkraut quesadillas, eggs Benedict) and all three were a massive hit! I’ll be trying this one next. Just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to record your work, explain the science in real-time, and editing/posting your recipes. Our family has really enjoyed spending time together over these recipes!
P.s. I especially appreciate the puns...and the groans from my kids when I share them!
His cookbook is amazing and serious eats has a bunch of Kenji videos that are almost as good as these.
Love how everything is executed in real-time. These are the most useful and concise cooking video formats I’ve seen
I love how substitutions are made of he happens not to have something. Let’s new cooks know it’s not an exact science and it’s okay to do things slightly different if you need.
“One does not simply guac in the mortar”
HI Im a turtle and now I will never forget which one is the pestle and which one the mortar
I haven't had my morning coffee yet, so that took me a solid minute before I audibly shouted "DID HE JUST"
I can only imagine the delight when he thought up the pun, and how much self-control it took not to blurt it out as soon as the mortar came into view
can someone explain the joke/pun to me?
im from germany so i have quite a hard time with understanding jokes (due to my english, not cause im german! :D)
@@MrJoshLo there's a line from the Lord of the Rings, 'One does not simply walk into Mordor.'
I vote for Kenji t-shirts.... "One does not simply guac in the mortar" "Sous Chef Eric's"
"Sous chef Eric's" and a caricature of a pancetta
@@hoder4857 classic 😂😂😂
YES.
“Salty, Fermented Profile” - I need a dozen of each size, k thx
"You can do it this way or that way. Anyway, I do it my way and I like it."
Proud to support Kenji on Patreon!
I think Kenji understates how awesome it is what he's doing in response to the crisis. Not only has he made an effort to keep on staff he's also providing free meals for key workers no idea how he's financially coping with that but kudos!!!
The perfect video to watch while I am starving
*Academy award for best cinematography:* exists.
Wok cam: "hey howareya"
I appreciate the constant organizing of the workspace and removing dirty utensils and tools. Makes it so much easier to cook without the mess.
That stuff right there, ya cai, is dried and fermented mustard leaves. Zha cai is pickled mustard root.
i feel flexed on every time kenji says he has his own restaurant like damn
Someone commented on the last video about sous chef Eric being locked up in the basement of the restaurant, and in this episode Kenji goes around showing off entire hidden bars in the basement of wursthall... interesting.
don't mind that noise behind the closed door by that pile of pancetta
pasta poodle it’s just my Pancetta Machine working away.
why at the start of every video does Kenji looks like grandparents on FaceTime
his true nature revealed, in that split second
😂 He kinda does. And I say that with love and kindness as I am older than Kenji and likely look the same 😂😂
And just like that, Kenji told me what I'd been doing wrong with my Dan Dan noodles - I made the sauce the thickness I wanted it to end at, rather than soupy enough that the cooling noodles would thicken it.
And he did it all in the same video with the best dad joke I've heard in a year.
What a hero.
Restaurants making food for all the essential workers just makes me soooooo happy. thank you and your co-workers
Kenji: "I'm gonna add a liiiittle more chili oil"
Also Kenji: *Spoons a ton on and then eats a whole spoon full*
Hi Kenji, I just wanted to add my thanks to you for these videos which are so enjoyable to watch. They are also extremely educational, often especially so in the informative and oft-amusing asides and tangents. You are a wonderful, gifted teacher and I hope that you keep educating for as long as it’s fun for you.
when he was talking about oil in the wok i really wanted him to say, "first, longyau"
Kenji's "A little extra chili oil" is like 10% of Gordon Ramsay's "A little extra olive oil" and it's still loads. Looks great, thanks Kenji
Fresh mustard greens are available at most grocery stores. I chop them up nice and fine, then lactoferment them like I'm making fresh kraut. A+ ingredient for dan dan noodles. Also surprisingly good way to convert a 50 cent pack of spicy instant noodles into something really good.
What's your name?
First name : sous
Last name : chefferic
We put our ginger scraps and a couple of cloves of garlic in a jar with some sherry and use it to flavor our stirfry's.
Mythilt your stirfry’s what?!?
Seriously though, the plural of stir-fry is “stirs-fried.”
@@JKenjiLopezAlt Egads! the dastardly apostrophe strikes again. :) Ok, that makes sense, along the same lines as a courts-martial. thought there was a time I think our stirs-fried might have been able to stir-fry something itself, too much of a friends experiment with turning ghost and reaper peppers into flakes.
Hawksmoor in the UK have a cocktail called ‘Shakey Pete’s Ginger Brew’ which is essentially alcoholic ginger beer, and it’s excellent. It requires ginger syrup, which you can make with these scraps.
Kenji you are the best, sir. The fact that you have all these great recipes and tricks and techniques is so rad, but then you just give them to us for free. Just wanted to say I appreciate you.
"What Kenji Cooked Every Day For A Year" would be my favourite cookbook
You are killing me... you are throwing out all the receipts I ever wanted to get but couldn`t really find them or thought they are not even close to the real dish.
Good job well done and thank you very much
I love that Kenji drops his videos early in the morning. Every day is now Koffee with Kenji.
Gotta love this guy Dan, whoever he is.... noodles so good he named them twice.
Hook us up dawg there’s clearly enough of sous-chef Eric’s pancetta to go around
You're so lucky to have a seemingly endless supply of Blind Pig and Pliny! Life is good on the coast! Cheers!
The only thing bad about these restaurant videos is that we don't see the dog being fed ☹️
"A ~little~ extra chili oil" he says, adding five spoonfuls
Alex Crocco *licks spoon clean*
That really isn't much. I do about 6-7 spoonfuls and my chili oils are made with Naga ghost chillies
George likes his chicken spicy
Some fermented funk from sauerkraut is on point, but there's a really pleasant herbal character you won't get from olives or even capers added to the mustard green approximation mix
Truth.
Would love it if you could make a video talking about different seasonings, their flavor profiles, best way to bring out their flavours (to toast or not to toast, to grind or not to grind) and what kind of dishes to use them in.
I am so proud that you made the very well-known noodles dish on your channel. dan dan noodles that represent Sichuan cuisine.
Kenji is all like "I have this, but you can use...yeah, well, whatever." I love this man.
i thought sous chef erick was doing just a bit of pancetta. the dude has a whole industrial production there.
seriously, there is no end in sight for sous-chef-eric's-pancetta
sous chef eric is an eldritch god who only produces pancetta
@@emerald6597 I, for one, welcome our eldritch panchetta overlords
Sous-chef Eric is the pancetta.
😂
I've only discovered your channel recently and instantly able to connect with it. I really like your nuggets of wisdom and philosophies throughout. "Sometimes I use a spoon, too, you know. Depending on what mood you are in" or "Not traditional but I like it that way". Totally onboard.
These videos are always bursting to the seams with tips and info. And it’s info that you know is reliable rather than old wives tales (not that old wives tales are necessarily untrustworthy!)
I am beginning to enjoy these videos more than bon appetit's high production videos. Kenji you are a wizard!
I’m making the Dan Dan noodle recipe from “The Wok” cookbook this week and this video got me extra pumped!! Curious of the timing between you writing the cookbook and this video as the commentary between both are similar. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and tips with us, Kenji!
youre literally the best cooking channel
You give me hope for compassionate cooking. You are one of the few chefs I see on this website who really understands the emotional, historical importance of cooking. Great stuff
One of my favorite videos, chef. Looks amazing and I look forward to cooking these noodles. Thank you!
18:14 for a second I thought he was going for a swig of Chinkiang vinegar
Thanks a lot for always mentioning alternatives for hard to find ingredients! Where I live one does not simply walk into an Asian grocery store 😁 (because they're hard to find around here)
getting high production value with all these new angles. love it
"the pancetta that souschef Eric made" has become "the pick that Bosnian bill and I made" of this channel
"A little extra chilli oil"
- Proceeds to add 5 spoonfuls and lick the spoon.
Too many cooking shows, you hear the cook say: "You CAN'T do it that way. You MUST do it this way, or [heaven forbid' it's not 'authentic.' " For example, there's a whole series of videos about Italian cooking where one Italian cook criticizes another cook's way of doing things ... even when the other chef is Italian or an Italian-American making their grandparent's recipe from the old country. I know from my grandparents who were from San Bartolomeo and Pozzoli and who made their living in America running an Italian restaurant, that wasn't the way they did it. They had their preferences about how to do things and what indgredients they wanted to use. But when they couldn't get that one thing, they used another.
The two "authentic" things about their Italian cooking were that you used what you had, and you never wasted anything.
One thing I like about Kenji is that his attitude about cooking reminds me of that: "If you don't have this, you can use that." "If you can't find this ingredient, the next best things you can use is that ... or a combination of this, that, and the other." "If you want, at this point you can add that." "I do it this way, but you also do it this other way and get the same effect or something close. to it" "I like this, but that other way is good too." "I didn't have this in the kitchen today, but I had that, and that works too." "It you want, at this point, you can add this green, or that green, and that other green is good too." Reminds me of Grandma Rosa and Grandpa Salvatore.
I have a little marble mortar and pestle almost the same as your daughters for my herbal tinctures, found it for a dollar years ago in a 2nd hand store. I upgraded a few years ago to a large marble one for guac and hummus. Kept my small one of course but the big one is awesome and I swear guac tastes better when served from it!
Another thing i like to do with my leftover ginger is blend it into things like smoothies for a kick.
Got so excited to see that Kenji uses the same mortar and pestle that I use... turns out it’s his 3 yr old daughters lol.
My favorite noodle dish! Your late night Dan Dan noodles video was what made me Subscribed.
just about died at "one does not simply guac in the mortar" I love you so much Kenji
This looks incredible Kenji. Also the camera view into the pan is awesome.
okay that speakeasy bar behind the bookshelf got me sold. i need to go there after all this is over.
I really enjoy watching your videos, you have such a nice way of explaining what you are doing and always also are giving great tips on what other ingredients you can use if you dont have all the ingredients at hand. keep up the good work. I'm a big fan.
Legend has it the reason why he didn't cook in his house anymore is that the cupboard spoon is still being renovated
I like that you called this your cooking show. Very cool, to just name it, and that yes you have a "television" show. Great content and fun channel. Thanks for sharing.
Everyone : thinking sous chef eric is some imaginary sous chef...
Sous chef Eric : am i a joke to you.
9:47 So my understanding is that a lot of Sichuan cooking wants this flavor. Chefs like Wang Gang save all the smoking oil and most translations specifically call for "heated oil." Of course, they're also using a different kind of oil. Chinese Cooking Demystified on Cai Zi You.
a pet rock yeah, virgin rapeseed oil I believe. Very different flavor to olive oil.
You can also use the ginger scraps to make a ginger bug for ginger beer and other naturally-carbonated sodas.
Definitely coming to San Mateo once everything opens back up.
Tommy we’ll see you here!
@@JKenjiLopezAlt It looks like an open kitchen concept? Will we see you in the kitchen?
@@saichung6246 I think he's mentioned before that he normally doesn't work the line when they're open. Maybe he'd be around in the kitchen tho idk
This dish feels so familiar to me even though I’ve never had an authentic version ..
Thank you Kenji for the amazing food I used your recipe and am glad to say it is peak tastiness me and my brother want to start a restaurant and this will definitely be on the menu
Saved to recipe playlist. Definitely making this one! Thanks, Kenji.
The increase in production quality in these videos is quite entertaining.
0:05 POV: you are the bowl of Dan Dan noodles kenji is about to demolish :')
I can't grind my stuff well with the marble or wood mortar and pestle. The granite one is great.
Nice show. First person view is cool, but nauseating sometimes.
Love your three ingredient mac n cheese recipe. Best ever.
"One does not simply guac in the mortar" A+ wordplay there, Kenji.
Hope when this is all over you do a food travel show ,any producers out there get this guy a tv show ,breath of fresh air.❤❤❤❤❤👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🥂
When I was in Tokyo 3 years ago at an izakaya that had dan dan as a special they added kewpie mayo to the base, made it even creamier and carbonara like on the noodles.
6:13 the amount of time it took you to remember what you went into the walk-in for is extremely impressive - you have a high level walk-in door magic resistance (if you know, you know)
I love how casually he blows out the fire on his wooden handle 12:19
That was just the grease catching briefly. Treated wood doesn't catch fire that easily.
thanks for diving into chinese foods! sadly, a lot of restaurants seem to take it too far on the soupy side with a lot of noodle dishes. It's been tough finding a place that won't serve something like this or zha jiang mian absolutely swimming in sauce.
It’s hard to find ANY Chinese American food not swimming in sauce. Better to make it if you like Chinese food.
High quality content, as always. Thanks a lot, Kenji.
loving the wok-cam
Another great lesson on techniques. So nice to see you have shoes on.
so, we've met sous chef Eric's pancheta, but when are we going to meet him?
maybe you've seen it already but in kenji's community posts he uploaded a picture of him recently
@@SandraudigaVali i don't know what the community post is, but thanks a lot
I don't know about everyone else but I would love to see some pancetta making videos from our favourite sous chef. Keep up the fantastic content
Just made this, basically the second I got mom's mala spicy. So delicious! Husband and I will definitely make again!! 10/10
I think at night Kenji dons a special cape and becomes... Souschef Eric!
i hope that as kenji blows up he keeps his go pro on head format for these videos
Best food videos on UA-cam
I notice that the basic components of this dish are similar to the peanut & chicken noodle salad video from ~2 weeks ago. The sauces for both start with a sesame base with hot water, flavored with soy sauce, black vinegar, and chili oil. What exactly are the characteristic differences between these two dishes (toppings, ratios of the ingredients in the sauce, ratio of sauce to noodle, etc.) that distinguish them from one another?
What my mom likes to do with the leftover ginger scraps is to add them with Chinliang vinegar so that we can use the vinegar for dumpling sauce.
Love the casual drink of Blind Pig. It's hands down my husband's favorite beer but we live in Washington State so we don't have access to it.
This looks great! I like mine with extra spice as well. Also, great beer selection again. That Blind Pig probably went super well with the dan dan noodles.
I love the contrast between you cooking at home and your restaurant. At home you usually scrape every last piece into the dish but here you leave some noticeable size chunks in the mortar and pestle. Not saying your going to waste it but it's interesting to see the restaurant chef mind vs the home chef mind.
Love the bottle chug of Russian River Blind Pig IPA. What a legend!
I go and cook something every time after watching one of your vids, thanks for all the dishes your making me have to do now lol
Was wondering if you could work in your take on knife-honing at some point. Frequency...technique...
Thanks! Love your stuff.
You even did the Sean bean fingers. You’re spectacular
fantastic, love your videos and recipes!
cute bracelet :) your daughter did a great job