Haiyaaaaaaaaaa ! If you think I should have bought a Rice cooker instead (I own 2 already) or that I should have used day-old rice leftovers, then 1) watch the video till the end, and 2) Remember that I am trying to make Fried Rice at a Michelin Star Chinese Restaurant level ! At home, I regularly use day-old rice for fried rice, and yes it is amazing and very clever to make the most out of leftovers. But, in this case, using day old rice would be counter productive as I am trying to maximize flavours, and to get as much freshness as possible (tip I got from a Cantonese MasterChef 😉). I am trying to make PERFECT FRIED RICE 🌾😋
You got everything set up except your seasoning station, most cantonese/chinese stirfry dishes is finished within 1-2 minutes in the wok. That is why every second is crucial when you have the wok on the heat, and you cant waste it on locating your seasoning container, opening the lid of said containers, slowly sprinkling your seasoning. Having everything accessible quickly is the key of mastering stir fry dishes with the wok. Great content, love your dedication and all the best with your recovery with your knees
Hopefully he can bring the ingredients closer so his timing is better. I keep looking at the browned egg and wincing, if you’re gonna start with egg first you NEED to go as fast as possible.
Over 25 years of Exec Chef experience at high end restaurants in the States. Boston, Dc etc. This is one of your best successes to date so far Alex!! Rice is easily one of the most poorly handled ingredients across all cuisines. Perfection of the “simple” tasks within all food prep is what separates the good from the great!! Bien joué!
ERROR ERROR ERROR In Reality, this is a Universally very wrong method of "Cooking Rice". The Best and Healthiest Method is to cook the Rice Naturally and Unpolished. This Way You retain The Vitamin B12. Sincerely Yours,
I give you one advise, oyster sauce and sesame oil (sesame oil just put a little bit for embellishment or u will screw up.😁) I'm Chinese. Congratulations u found this comment advise!!!👏👏
I love it when you’re happy with an outcome and you’re French comes out. I know you’re going to knock it out of the park and make the dish your own next week when Chef Samuel shows up.
My mom always uses the steam method to cook rice. It's the best and every grain has structure. My family, which is from Guangdong province, or Cantonese region, uses Thai jasmine rice from what I remember. Thai jasmine rice is very fragrant.
God I love these videos- They are useless to me, someone who is not this deep into cooking... Despite every meal I have eaten being homemade, but I have slowly been enjoying every single video you make. From the first to the latest. Keep going :D
Hi Alex, I'm one of your fan from Thailand with a Chinese decendent. I eat jasmine rice on my daily diet. My grandparents (Chinese of course) usually explained to me that the tip in cooking good fried rice comes from the left over rice the night before. It eventually means that putting jasmine rice in the fridge overnight would absorb the moisture from the rice grain leaving the cooked grains separated and dry. It will then be easy to use this rice to cook fried rice. The other method is to use a rice cooker with the option "Hard Rice", the rice after cooking will eventually be harder than normal and the grains are seperated which is good for cooking fried rice. Your end result of fried rice looks amazing but the methods of cooking rice could be much simpler which could encourage a lot of people to start cooking fried rice.
Filipino here, our family cooks rice by boiling it. We wash the rice 2-3 times and use our finger to measure for the water. Next the pot goes on the stove on medium heat. When it boils, we lower the heat and cook it for 15 minutes. Then that's your rice, boiling works fine!
Never understood the finger method. its just not consistent AT ALL. a finger for 1 kilo is different then with say 2 kilo's and every finger is different. i use math and a scale every single time. For jasmin rice i use a 1 on 3.25 weight ratio so 125 grams of rice is 325 ml water in my microwave absorbtion method. But this only works for this volume for the microwave method as some steam is excaping in this method makig the total absorbed vollume of water less. If i where to use a rice cooker which is airtight that would be a 1:2 ratio for rice to water in weight not cups or other vague measurements for jasmin rice. Basmati for example needs 50 ml more water for the same 125 grams of rice as its more absorbant and expands a lot more. And boiling can work fine if you use it with say a corry or stew but then stickt rice is irrelevant but if you want fresh non stick you need to use a absorb methos to not rub the grains while cooking and create starches that stick. in theory you can cook in excess water and then strain and steam dry but frankly i have never tried that and i think it will kill flavor but that would prevent stickyness as well.
@@pino_de_vogel it's actually very simple... its the first notch in your finger from the TOP of the rice... every time perfect regardless of amount of rice cooked.
@@mira-rara if it both absorbtion method how would the taste differ? they both slowly absorb the water one just creates more dishes to do. i hoghly doubt theres a difference in taste or texture if you do it right
Remember: BALANCE, above all else! Avoid making the finished dish heavy/dense/cloying with too many ingredients. The (freshness of the) rice is supposed to be the star of the dish, while everything else is supposed to compliment it. That being said, you might also consider any one or more of the following to really personalize your own fried rice. *Protein:* some sliced slivers of saucisson sec (French salami). Not too much though. Par cook them first in the wok to render some of the fat. Remove from the pan and set aside, but keep the fat. If there isn't enough rendered fat, you may need to add some oil to make up the difference in volume needed. *Eggs:* Okay, not so humble by suggesting this..... but I dare you to add a Jacques Pepin-inspired omelet to the finished rice dish. The stir-fried egg is one thing.... but adding a classic French omelet will lend a slight dimension of creaminess you normally wouldn't find in fried rice. it could be revolutionary. it's up to you whether or not you want to include green onions in it or not. *Aromatics:* leeks, sliced thin, but on a bias. Garlic. *GARLIC.* _But treat the garlic right..._ that's all I have to say about that! You might also consider some zested fresh citrus rind... a little goes a long way! *Herbs:* use your homemade fresly-dried herbs, mid-way through cooking. Or... add a chiffonade of fresh leafy herbs at the end of cooking, just before serving. *Vegetables:* Definitely acceptable and needed if you think your fried rice will come out heavy, as properly-cut vegetables will lighten the dish. Think hard about this and plan ahead! Vegetables like celery, celery leaves, carrots, carrot tops, fresh green beans (julienned). *Acids:* Think vinegars, wine vinegars, citrus fruit juice (ie. lemon, lime, orange, etc). If it comes down to it, you might even consider the brine from a jar of cornichons. *Sweetness:* Yes, don't underestimate alternative sources of sugar to balance the savoriness of the fried rice. *Spice:* Get the best peppercorns you can find. You can also think of adding hot sauces to the fried rice at the moment you add the soy sauce (that is.... if you opt to use soy sauce, which you don't, actually). Plot twist: Add some Tare.... like, from the Ramen series. It would be COMPLETELY unexpected.
for everyone saying you need day old rice....how do you think restaurants cook their fried rice? Reckon they're only using the stuff from yesterday? Cook your rice properly and it's good to go
Yesterday's left over rice is today's fried rice. Well, I really have no idea how it goes in high-end restaurants which is what Alex is going for. But in my part of Asia (where you have rice in every meal at home) fried rice is all about making yesterday's rice taste good again (this was before refrigerators and microwave ovens). Fried rice is usually eaten for breakfast and made from left over rice from last night's dinner. Again, that's how it is in my part of Asia, I can't speak for the rest. Also some parts of my country doesn't have reliable electricity so not using rice cookers isn't that strange.
no... you don't need a day old rice, but you need ones that are dry and at room temp, restaurants has heavy duty fridges that could cool down the rice quickly, and food stalls will just use rice that they cook hours and hours before they start selling.. so the most "foolproof" way at home is using a leftover rice... and his way of steaming the rice is no less proper than rice that are boiled in a pot or cooked in a rice cooker.. it will produce the same result if it's dried and cooled down enough... again, the most foolproof way, is to leave it alone for half a day, minimal... you don't even need to put them in the fridge.. I have been eating rice every day my whole life, and nobody in my household have ever put our leftover rice in the fridge the only fk'd up rice is if you messed up the water ratio... that's bye bye
Well, actually, they do tend to use rice cooked the day before. I've only got 30+ years experience cooking at a Vietnamese restaurant so what do I know.... We cook it in a rice cooker, store it in the fridge and then fry it the next morning. Only on the busiest days would we ever have to fry more rice in the middle of the day and then we'd use rice that we'd already cooked early in the morning and had been cooled....and even then we'd still not be using that particular fried rice for a couple hours at least to give it time to dry some more.
Hope u find your own twist on your fried rice. I usually cook them on left over rice, with left over chicken, meat, sausage, sea food basically anything.. U can also make a fusion with it.. Fried Rice has alot of styles, Chinese style, Indonesia style, Malaysia style and much more.
Tears seem appropriate. People underestimate just how difficult it is, working that wok. The chef that trained me developed a curve at the base of his thumb, after 40 years behind the stove. Love your work Alex!
Have you tried the Brazilian method? Lightly fry the rice in a spoon of oil for a minute before adding the water, just until they start becoming opaque - they won't brown. When you hear the crackling at the bottom the water is gone and it's time to turn off the heat and let it steam for ~10 minutes. Makes for very fluffy, completely separated grains.
One of the problem with "isolating the variables" is that plain rice fries differently than rice with eggs. Vegetables and protein fry differently when they're alone in the wok than when they are mixed with other ingredients which might also be high in oil and certainly have a high water content.
I've started using a microwave rice-cooker on my quest to make perfect sushi-rice and I believe it is pretty much steaming the rice as you want. You add rice, water & salt and since its microwave heated it is also heated from all sides at the same time with no part really transferring the heat. The pot fills with steam after a while and you can then influence the hydration by either letting it sit until the steam sets or opening it up and letting steam evaporate off the hot rice. You should look into it, basically just a plastic pot & extremely simple and convenient
Agree. I had one for years. $2.00 at Wal-Mart. I am lazy in the kitchen so it is perfect for me. Just like cooking bacon and hard boiled eggs in the air fryer. (Besides other things) Hehehe
Your quest to find how to make perfect sushi rice resulted in a microwave? Shock and horror from a guy who worked in a high end Japanese restaurant as a cook.
@@Nomadic813 :D I See what you mean, but two factors: as a home cook it still needs to stay practical & the microwave by itself is simply a heating device that when used correctly is in no way inferior and in this context is perfect for steaming rice. Actually I rarely use it expect for rice & defrosting berries
You can. Use the finest, longest grained Basmati rice and do not was it but glaze it in cultured grass butter in a copper bottom sauce pan, add one part by volume chicken stock and half a part by volume dry white wine with prominent acid. Bring to a rolling boil for a minute, cover the sauce pan with a proper lid and turn off the heat. Ten minutes later you fluff the rice with a rice paddle and may proceed to frenchify all your other ingredients, for example with goose egg and black truffles.
Ah the steam method! I must say alex i too had ignored how my mother cooks rice using steam. As a student I had switched to rice cooker method. After failed attempts of boiling. Then later I gave in and tried my mums steam method! Definitely a game changer. Yes im indian but we dont eat basmati so it gives great granular body to rie.
I’m glad that I’m not the only one that’s been anticipating Uncle rating this. That been said, I’d genuinely like to try a comparison between leftover and fresh methods head to head. I’m sure the end result come down to mouth-feel
You really can't cook fresh rice for frying, it has to dry out overnight for optimal use. Cooking so much rice in such a deep pot was Alex's 1st misstep, it overcooked is what it seemed
Another important tip: When washing rice, make sure the water is transparent which means you will have to rinse the rice 3-4 times to get rid of as much starch as you can. Then, after washing, don't let the rice sit in its own wetness, that will make the rice sticky and won't fried-rice well.
@@user47362 that may be a benefit but the main reason you wash rice is to remove the starch from the surface so that it has a better texture when you cook it.
EEEEEE!!!!!! So excited to see Alex Fried Rice!! My mind is getting blown away at possibilities! I've only made perfect fried rice once in my 41yrs! It was a fluke! But always steam my rice for stir frying! As you say each grain is separate and has body. Otherwise I just use a rice cooker. I can't wait til next episode!! Just make sure to keep the ingredients few, flavours simple and with the Alex touch it will be the most perfect fried rice!!!!
This inspired me to try something again. I put two mason jar lids in my pressure cooker, and added an inch of water. On top of those, acting as a trivet, I put a large ramekin with brown rice, with water to cover barely to cover. I pressure cooked it for about 30 minutes. Perfect.
Hey Alex, I have a recommendation for your fried rice. Slowly fry strips of red onion until just starting to crisp. Put them aside and then lay them on top of the rice just before serving (spring onion 'inside' and the red onion 'outside'. Sometimes this is done with Biryani but many people don't realise, it's a perfect match for egg fried rice too!
When he mentioned “wok hey”, I was shook. As Chinese as I am, I never had wok-heyed fried rice at home because our fires aren’t as strong. And yet, he cooked wok-heyed fried rice!
I was about to buy a fancy rice cooker when I saw this... I just did rice using this recipe and it's the best I ever had. Very easy plus almost no cleanup necessary... You just saved me a lot of money Alex!
Thank you Alex, i'm a french cook and I learn so much from you. I just tried that cooking method for rice (that I didn't know) it's like a dark area of cooking revealed. Thank you for the big picture.
I know everyone likes rice cookers, but there's different steamed rice techniques, so it depends on the technique used, but how my family steams rice; I definitely thinks it's better compared to rice cooker. To each their own. Not all rice cookers and rice cook the same too. We use tiger brand ,but I heard Zojirushi brand is good. Rice cooker is just convenient, but when there's no electricity or no rice cooker, steamed rice is the best option.
i mean, there is nothing wrong with the steaming method he did... if you have 20 minutes to steam 100g of rice and then wait 2 hours for it to cook. if you have more than one person to feed....
@@DisillusionedAcronym yea definitely nothing wrong with it, but I think people won't back down from rice cooker bc it's convenient. Steaming is just traditional way. Rice cookers also keep rice warm and fresh too, vs. steamed rice only warm for maybe an hour and after that needs to be reheat. There's definitely a texture difference too. Also it probably takes 30-40 minutes for my family to make about 10-15 cups of steamed rice for a pot ( about same for our rice cooker). We do both depending on the rice. Timing depends on the technique used.
@@maimoua781 it makes me laugh a little because it's literally called steamed rice. i mean, for me, whatever works for you (or whoever) is good. but people feel like there can only be one way and that is the way they learned.
Inspiring work Alex. We get to watch a term end, if not a master’s thesis level of work, with every series you produce. I’m going to introduce these to my 9 year old. He can witness another example of the joy that comes with the pursuit of knowledge. Thank you for taking us on your journey.
I gave up on trying to cook rice "old fashion way" as it would frustrate me too much to throw it all away when it would fail :( Rice cooker is indeed great but you need to know your rice as well as how much water you need to put to have the desired firmness. I can pretty much nail it UNLESS I have to cook big quantity of rice... Then it's always either overcooked or undercooked, nice work Alex, as always !
This is a game changer for me. Just cooked this tonight and did a side by side with the rice cooker. Way better separation. Not really any harder to make and the fact that you can eat it the same day is great.
I have a suspicion that this steaming method is what the expensive rice cookers do. I use an instant pot pressure cooker for rice and it works wonderfully. So much better than boiling it in a pan or the cheap rice cooker I used to use.
@@littlelawson06 Most of the cooking methods in the Philippines are Indo/Malay derived, with the later addition of Spanish, Chinese, and American influences (colonization era). The use of garlic is heavily Chinese in our cooking as we also follow the rules of Garlic, Ginger, and Scallion (Onions) in almost all our native dishes. From our history books, the only trade that the French did with the Philippines would be wood and cloth, as the Philippines was already abundant with spices before the Spaniards (and their 15 French men) arrived on our shores. Also, garlic may be revered by the French, but they still do not consume as much garlic as Asians (more than 80% of the world's garlic market).
European things that might go well with Cantonese egg fried rice: Truffle - seriously, the butane gas smell of truffle will perfectly complements the nutty delicately smoky wok hay aroma. Fish roe - might not match bite-texture wise, but that ocean aroma usually complements egg fried rice really well, most Cantonese chef typically just use shrimp, crab meat, or scallop. Smoked fish - rarely known in China, but used a lot in Europe, seriously goes very well with the wok hay smell, and may even accentuate it. The British did their kedgeree egg curry fried rice using smoked haddock, and that thing is a marvelous treat. Wild European mushrooms - much more flavourful than ours, especially the delicately delicious porcini mushroom and the morel with its seafood-like characteristics Chorizo - I like their smoky and savoury taste much better than the Cantonese lap cheong, which is sweet Pté - full flavoured earthy liver té, which I don't like, but I would imagine the strong taste would complements the well rounded aroma of wok hay Fancy Chinese restaurants loved to use the following well-known variants: Salted fish - maybe because we don't know better about smoked fish "XO" sauce - dried scallop, red chilli pepper, Jinhua ham, dried shrimp, garlic and canola oil. just Google this sauce, it is not Cognac for sure. This sauce simple elevates them to the right direction Chewy or crunchy seafoods that goes well with wok hay - shrimps, scallops, squids, clams, or crab meat Asparagus - for some reason (probably for that crunchy bite texture and that aromatic nutty taste) Crunchy tofu skin - anything soy that went well with soy-sauce based dish Crunchy fried / baked laver seaweed / nori - again, for that ocean smell that goes so well with wok hay Shaoxing wine - for flambé trick show off Chinkiang vinegar - the taste that awarded so many Singaporean bok chor noodle hawkers their Michelin stars
I'm not french, but when I think of french food I think of fresh vegetables, rich sauces, and butter. All of those things should be pretty easy to incorporate into a fried rice dish, looking forward to what you make Alex!
"We need to add a little of me to that dish. To infuse it with personality. Where's the French vibe, where's the Alex vibe in all this?" Oh no. He's going to add the mother sauce mayonaise
@@piethein4355 demiglace would be nice method imo if @alex read this. It will be Japanese style fried rice that has soft creamy omellete and topped with demiglace, but still fried rice. its infusion between asian and european.
Fried the egg first - egg acts like nonstick magic for the rice. In fact, it acts like nonstick magic for anything you fried next. Source - Mum and Dad who has a Cantonese Restuarant Edit: I had written this halfway when he tried to naked fry the rice, and turned into a biscuit
Yesss. Keep on showing us these “new” (steaming rice already existed but is not as used by others around the world) techniques and how to take things next level by breaking convention (at least for a bunch of us). Merci
Ive been frying rice all my life. Im 60 years old grandmother. Use left over rice or overnight rice that's been chilled in the fridge. You can use any rice as long as its not sushi rice or any sticky rice eg. glutinous rice. Long grain rice or Thai Jasmine rice are still the best. I'm from Malaysia living n working in NZ and high grade rice are dear in NZ. So I just use the med grade basmati rice or any long grain rice or med grade Jasmine rice. It still work as long as the rice cooked is cold so they won't become sticky when frying. Alex you are doing very well. Well done!🤗
Interesting facts about the steaming method: Here in Taiwan, back in the ancient times, people steam their rice only at special days for celebrations because it tastes better. Nowadays, we steam the rice EVERY DAY because the work is done by a RICE COOKER and it tastes really good.
@Kenta Glad to hear that we share the same energy for the rice. But by saying "we steam rice every day", I really meant it because the rice cooker we use is designed to adopt the streaming method as its mechanism. We put the rice in the inner pot with water and add some water outside the pot so that it creates vapor to cook the inner pot until all the water evaporates. I wonder if you have the same type of rice cookers in your country
@@maboroshihananetsumi im from Indo too. I dont think i ever see your type of rice cooker. In here the rice cooker just boil the rice until its cooked. Both rice and water in the same pot..
I really enjoyed the sound in this video. Along with Alex's sparkling commentary and practical discussion, the immersive sounds really brought the experience home to me.
My method of cooking rice on stove top is: 1. wash the rice 2 to 3 times until water is somewhat clear and not cloudy/starchy 2. water should be just below the first line of finger ( I measure the water with my finger just lightly touching the rice) 3. wait for the rice to boil and let it cook until water is reduced by more than half (or until there's a little bit of water on top of rice remaining) 4. turn off the heat and let is sit for 5-8 minutes with the lid on (don't open the lid cause you want the steam to be trapped in and cook the rice) 5. heat on low (very very low) and steam the rice for about 5 minutes (or until you can smell the rice) then it's done -Yields dry chewy rice great for fried rice just leave at room temperature to cool completely. This is the method I've been using for years cause I prefer dry and chewy rice.
i found that, the thing that used to mess up my rice the most, is that i didnt seperate it enough while cooling. after cooking, i either left it in a pot, or a bowl, or the container that i steamed it in. The bottom of it always got soggy, because the steam couldnt escape. that alone wont make anything perfect by itself, but making sure to fluff up the rice, also spreading it out, both to let steam escape, helped a lot :)
Yeah, the pot method works fine, but IME you MUST fluff up the rice after it's mostly done, and then put the lid back on to let it steam another 5-10 minutes. Then let it cool off if you're making fried rice.
About a year ago I went through a similar process for trying to get perfect fried rice (and I took over a year to get it down), the right cooking method (steaming and then chilling for at least 2 hours) carries you 60% to the right texture and individuality. After that, having enough loose oil in the pan I'd say is one of the most important things to have when you're frying. It should almost feel like too much, and you never want to pre-fry anything else before because it'll get too saucy and stick up the rice. I usually add an egg after the rice has fried for a minute, that way the rice does most of the work of making the egg break up into little rice-sized pieces.
Tip of the day: that water you use to wash the rice can be used to water fruit trees or flowers as it has nutrients to boost the Potassium and other nutrients. It works well.
A few things... To steam rice, try letting it soak overnight, drain the water, and wash well (maybe 5-7 rinses) then steam in a cloth. Each grain will have absorbed the exact amount of water it needed. The way you steamed it inside a bowl would leave the bottom a bit too wet. Secondly, you want to coat the rice grains in egg, not have overcooked eggs stirred into your rice. To achieve this, you want to make a divot in your fried rice, on high heat, add the raw beaten egg and stir vigorously until gooey, then toss with the rice until dry. A bit of corn starch slurry into the eggs when beating also helps. Lastly, MSG is a crucial ingredient to make authentic tasting fried rice.
That’s very satisfactory for me from the first fired rice to this one as a Hong Konger. The whole series of Fired rice impressed me with the effort of every part.
whenever you steam it or cooking it with a rice cooker if the rice is not clean enough, it couldn't separate easily when you stir-fry. make sure all rice starch excess is removed. the starch is the glue, the less starch causes easier to the rice tosaperate each other.
As a Chinese person, I'm super happy you're taking this dish and making it more "Alex". That's what food is about, there's Chinese food around the world, in Vietnam, in Japan, in Italy, and Peru, etc etc. As the food travel, it adapts to different flavors, and these kinds of cultural exchange makes some of the most delicious food there is. So best of luck to your adventure on making it your own ! I hope you can figure out how to get cheese into chinese food. that will be a huge accomplishment
ERROR ERROR ERROR In Reality, this is a Universally very wrong method of "Cooking Rice". The Best and Healthiest Method is to cook the Rice Naturally and Unpolished. This Way You retain The Vitamin B12. Sincerely Yours,
Alex you should do a whole episode just on the different ways to cook rice besides the pot method. Your view of the taste of rice would be forever changed.
I agree i did a HUGE rice experiment for the past 16 months where i cooked over 16 types of rice from agesd to non aged and polished and non polished cooked each in 6-10 ways and its a eye opener. Some rice is just rubbish some rice needs cooking straining and then steaming on low heat for a while some like absorb methods some need more some need less water. Some get better by adding salt to the water some don't. many people just grab a random bag of rice and cook it in a random way but theres so much more to it. i use actual math formulas when cooking rice now and that may sound complicated but its relatively simple once you figure out what rice you prefer for what purpose and what the ratios are.
Hi Alex, I'm a big fan and very excited to see you taking on my favorite dish: fried rice. I learned to make it in China about a decade ago and have cooked it 2-3 times a week since then. I wanted to list some of my favorite extra ingredients just in case you see this/ you are still looking for ideas: 1. ground white pepper 2. red chili peppers sliced same size as green onion 3. thinly sliced napa cabbage 4. roasted peanuts 5 toasted sesame seeds 6 this is the weird one, (I got the idea from Maangchi's omu rice recipe) a little bit of cheddar cheese. I know it sounds like it wouldn't go but it adds some great umami to the dish. A little oyster sauce can have a similar effect if you want something less western.
Most people eat to eat not eat to enjoy the food. I never eat anything i dont realy like and enjoy thus i always try to make the best food i can and even when im like DANG THIS IS GOOD i still strife for perfection and improvements.
@@crazystupidgamer Yes and no. Preferences differ for sure but you can't say you have a preference without trying the other options. So never go with the 'This is good enough' attitude but keep improving and experimenting/adopting as thats how you trully fall in love with food. 7 years ago when i started caring about food i bought instant noodles and fried some eggs ham or chicken or shrimp en veggies and tossed in the noodles and added some indonesian soy sauce and called it perfection and really liked it. Now 7 years later if i make that im dissapointed with myself because i was open to improvements and know what is possible with those same ingredients.
you can use a steamer basket as well. get a dried luffa, you find them at bath stores as well as asian stores. cut and roll it out and lay it into your steamer basked, then place your rice on top.
I make fresh rice and let it cool to room temperature for fried rice. I also use the method of lightly toasting (not browning) the rice before the water goes in. The rice grains are always separate.
As long as the rice cools down slightly and allows the starch to crystalize, it is good enough to fry. Spreading it out for 10min is plenty good enough.
He's making a Chinese dish? Also a Japanese dipping soy sauce is not what you use for cooking a Chinese dish. Cooking soy and dipping soy are 2 different things as are Chinese and Japanese rice. Westerners just like Japanese soy sauce more because it's milder, brewed differently with different ingredients for different times to make it less harsh. It's a bit like saying a Pino Grigio and a Cab Sav are the same thing.
If it's good enough for a top class chef, then it's good enough for me! Can't wait to try this at home. I bought myself a wok burner and am really looking forward to trying this. Thx for the work getting the secrets of master chefs!
I use a little sriracha for spice and ketchap manis for sweet and oyster sauce for tangy ness thoose three together with a little white pepper and then small splash of sesam oil at the end. The sauce caramelizes and gets real good
@@christopherbishop1858 because he’s funny and has actual culinary knowledge. Maybe if you could see past his “over-played asian-ness” you’d actually enjoy him and learn something from him
@@christopherbishop1858 When I use that accent people call me racist. It's not fair. But seriously, he's doing an imitation of Mickey Rooney or something and it's just as obnoxious.
@@BraxtonHoward He has said in previous comments that he owns two rice cookers. So that part of your statement is patently false. As for the other part....you may be right. But the pretentious barb is also wrong...he is nothing like that.
@@AlyxiSistahTweaky25 He said they don't make better rice. He is either wrong or has bad rice cookers. Also, watch the video on this series where he eats the chef's rice and tell me it isn't one of the most pretentious productions you've ever seen.
@@BraxtonHoward zojirushi rice cookers make the best rice, even Japanese people use rice cookers and they like their rice perfect. This series seems like a joke, won't be watching more of this pretentious garbage
His aim is to make high quality fried rice using good ingredients akin to what Chef Samuel Lee made for him. There's nothing wrong with using MSG but MSG alone is simple in terms of flavour, it's just plain umami. There are other ways of adding umami to a dish that add complexity to the flavour. Fish sauce adds a funky fermented quality to the flavour, mushrooms or mushroom extracts add an earthy quality to the flavour, smoked meats add a smoky quality to the flavour, etc.
So I learned this secret for rice cooking from experimenting with cooking rice in the microwave (which if you have never tried, makes for good rice because you can make rice in a 9x13 baking dish or a large flat bottomed bowl). The secret to cooking homogeneously is in the depth of rice. Use a very wide pan and don't put in more than 1cm deep (uncooked) rice. The fluffing of rice afterwards is specifically there to evaporate water and aid in homogenizing the final product. This is also why it is recommended to use day old rice that has sat in the fridge, giving the rice time to even out the water content (don't knock it until you have tried it). Of course, it is critical to cook the rice al dente in the first place (that translucent pearl look). Pan frying the rice will recover a slightly overcooked rice. Badly overcooked rice will never recover, use it to make porridge/congee. Jasmine has a nice balance of amylose to starch. Try Calrose/Japonica/Sushi/Nishiki rice, it is also fabulous. Your eggs are still overcooked. Your rice could use a little more time (or heat) in the pan. A touch of toasted sesame oil will enhance the nuttiness, as will carmelized shallots. Your scallions look better, remember the difference between the white part and the green parts. White part goes in for about 2 minutes and the green part is basically cooked for 30 seconds (the time it takes to toss them and to plate, cut the rings thinner - they finish cooking in the bowl).
Dry the rice in a fridge before cooking fried rice is the perfect way to go. In Thailand, we even dry it for 1 night lol. Everything will be easier for those who got a rice cooker but this steam technique is very interesting, I should give it a try. Btw, great vid Alex! 😍
The woman from chinese cooking demystified already told you to steam your rice a few episodes before didn't she? So why didn't you do it in the first place
Haiyaaaaaaaaaa ! If you think I should have bought a Rice cooker instead (I own 2 already) or that I should have used day-old rice leftovers, then 1) watch the video till the end, and 2) Remember that I am trying to make Fried Rice at a Michelin Star Chinese Restaurant level ! At home, I regularly use day-old rice for fried rice, and yes it is amazing and very clever to make the most out of leftovers. But, in this case, using day old rice would be counter productive as I am trying to maximize flavours, and to get as much freshness as possible (tip I got from a Cantonese MasterChef 😉). I am trying to make PERFECT FRIED RICE 🌾😋
Lots of commenters obviously weren't paying attention.
That is true, but you're arguing with asians. we will put you on the receiving end of a broomstick if you disagree.
source: am asian
Wok hard! 💪🏼
Patrick Star: Makes sense to me.
Alex search on Google how Indian cook rice
Every grain of rice is separate
I think that might be helpful
You got everything set up except your seasoning station, most cantonese/chinese stirfry dishes is finished within 1-2 minutes in the wok. That is why every second is crucial when you have the wok on the heat, and you cant waste it on locating your seasoning container, opening the lid of said containers, slowly sprinkling your seasoning.
Having everything accessible quickly is the key of mastering stir fry dishes with the wok.
Great content, love your dedication and all the best with your recovery with your knees
he knows this, but he's cooking outside lol
watch his previous vids please, he was even studying from chinese chefs on weibo
@@stonecat676 then it ain't gonna be Michelin star. 🤷♂️
There's a French name for this: Mise en place. I guess that's one way to put French flare in it.
Now that you said it, fast food comes from china?
Hopefully he can bring the ingredients closer so his timing is better. I keep looking at the browned egg and wincing, if you’re gonna start with egg first you NEED to go as fast as possible.
Over 25 years of Exec Chef experience at high end restaurants in the States. Boston, Dc etc. This is one of your best successes to date so far Alex!! Rice is easily one of the most poorly handled ingredients across all cuisines. Perfection of the “simple” tasks within all food prep is what separates the good from the great!! Bien joué!
im only watching this video for the accent
ERROR ERROR ERROR
In Reality, this is a Universally very wrong method of "Cooking Rice".
The Best and Healthiest Method is to cook the Rice Naturally and Unpolished. This Way You retain The Vitamin B12.
Sincerely Yours,
I just tried this steaming method for cooking rice, and it is hands down the best rice texture I've ever had. Bravo, 10/10
I give you one advise, oyster sauce and sesame oil (sesame oil just put a little bit for embellishment or u will screw up.😁) I'm Chinese. Congratulations u found this comment advise!!!👏👏
as a wise man in an orange polo once said , "Just get rice cooker , and all your problems go away"
Haiyaaaaa!
@@robdielemans9189 FUYOOOOO
I have one ! In fact I have two... Still, this method is SUPERIOR 🔥🔥🔥
Fried rice is best made with day old rice from the refrigerator. At home it’s generally a convenient way to use leftovers.
@@eyeborg3148 did you not just watch the video? Or are you dense like day old rice?
when a michelin chef texts you his recipe how he cooks rice.... life goals achieved i guess :P
What are Alex's life goals if cooking with Michelin chef's is not enough?
@@ThePhantazmya i dont know 🤣
Alex's parents' backyard is the perfect place to lay back for a sunny afternoon.
Sure, but only after Alex cuts the grass.
I love it when you’re happy with an outcome and you’re French comes out. I know you’re going to knock it out of the park and make the dish your own next week when Chef Samuel shows up.
My mom always uses the steam method to cook rice. It's the best and every grain has structure. My family, which is from Guangdong province, or Cantonese region, uses Thai jasmine rice from what I remember. Thai jasmine rice is very fragrant.
God I love these videos- They are useless to me, someone who is not this deep into cooking... Despite every meal I have eaten being homemade, but I have slowly been enjoying every single video you make. From the first to the latest. Keep going :D
Alex: We need to put a little of 'me' in that dish
Me: Omg he's going to put ramen in rice
I was more worried about that “put my guts on the table” line.
Ramen with croissants stuffed with mayo and pizza meatballs in fried rice.
@@Scodiddly Don't forget the brain juice that he's squeezing out...
Well.....
Egg fried rice mixed with instant ramen is a popular dish at least in my town
@@kharismabangkitpriambada5217 Magelangan.. 🙄
"Every grain of rice is nicely separated!"
*Immediately sees rice ball rolling in the bowl*
8:58 Yep. You sir are a real one 😂
Self delusion 101 lol
😂
I am in awe at your perseverance in demystifying all that science for something that I’ve taken for granted because I grew up with it. Well done.
Hi Alex,
I'm one of your fan from Thailand with a Chinese decendent. I eat jasmine rice on my daily diet.
My grandparents (Chinese of course) usually explained to me that the tip in cooking good fried rice comes from the left over rice the night before. It eventually means that putting jasmine rice in the fridge overnight would absorb the moisture from the rice grain leaving the cooked grains separated and dry. It will then be easy to use this rice to cook fried rice. The other method is to use a rice cooker with the option "Hard Rice", the rice after cooking will eventually be harder than normal and the grains are seperated which is good for cooking fried rice. Your end result of fried rice looks amazing but the methods of cooking rice could be much simpler which could encourage a lot of people to start cooking fried rice.
08:56 Alex singing Jacque Pepin shows how satisfied he is with the result
or Elle Me Dit in the previous videos lmao
Filipino here, our family cooks rice by boiling it. We wash the rice 2-3 times and use our finger to measure for the water. Next the pot goes on the stove on medium heat. When it boils, we lower the heat and cook it for 15 minutes. Then that's your rice, boiling works fine!
Never understood the finger method. its just not consistent AT ALL. a finger for 1 kilo is different then with say 2 kilo's and every finger is different. i use math and a scale every single time. For jasmin rice i use a 1 on 3.25 weight ratio so 125 grams of rice is 325 ml water in my microwave absorbtion method. But this only works for this volume for the microwave method as some steam is excaping in this method makig the total absorbed vollume of water less. If i where to use a rice cooker which is airtight that would be a 1:2 ratio for rice to water in weight not cups or other vague measurements for jasmin rice. Basmati for example needs 50 ml more water for the same 125 grams of rice as its more absorbant and expands a lot more.
And boiling can work fine if you use it with say a corry or stew but then stickt rice is irrelevant but if you want fresh non stick you need to use a absorb methos to not rub the grains while cooking and create starches that stick.
in theory you can cook in excess water and then strain and steam dry but frankly i have never tried that and i think it will kill flavor but that would prevent stickyness as well.
@@pino_de_vogel it's actually very simple... its the first notch in your finger from the TOP of the rice... every time perfect regardless of amount of rice cooked.
It don't actually taste as good as steamed rice.
@@mira-rara if it both absorbtion method how would the taste differ? they both slowly absorb the water one just creates more dishes to do. i hoghly doubt theres a difference in taste or texture if you do it right
@@pino_de_vogel Alex literally explained why. Uniform heating vs uneven heating. No matter what you do, heat source of boiling is from bottom.
Remember: BALANCE, above all else! Avoid making the finished dish heavy/dense/cloying with too many ingredients. The (freshness of the) rice is supposed to be the star of the dish, while everything else is supposed to compliment it. That being said, you might also consider any one or more of the following to really personalize your own fried rice.
*Protein:* some sliced slivers of saucisson sec (French salami). Not too much though. Par cook them first in the wok to render some of the fat. Remove from the pan and set aside, but keep the fat. If there isn't enough rendered fat, you may need to add some oil to make up the difference in volume needed.
*Eggs:* Okay, not so humble by suggesting this..... but I dare you to add a Jacques Pepin-inspired omelet to the finished rice dish. The stir-fried egg is one thing.... but adding a classic French omelet will lend a slight dimension of creaminess you normally wouldn't find in fried rice. it could be revolutionary. it's up to you whether or not you want to include green onions in it or not.
*Aromatics:* leeks, sliced thin, but on a bias. Garlic. *GARLIC.* _But treat the garlic right..._ that's all I have to say about that! You might also consider some zested fresh citrus rind... a little goes a long way!
*Herbs:* use your homemade fresly-dried herbs, mid-way through cooking. Or... add a chiffonade of fresh leafy herbs at the end of cooking, just before serving.
*Vegetables:* Definitely acceptable and needed if you think your fried rice will come out heavy, as properly-cut vegetables will lighten the dish. Think hard about this and plan ahead! Vegetables like celery, celery leaves, carrots, carrot tops, fresh green beans (julienned).
*Acids:* Think vinegars, wine vinegars, citrus fruit juice (ie. lemon, lime, orange, etc). If it comes down to it, you might even consider the brine from a jar of cornichons.
*Sweetness:* Yes, don't underestimate alternative sources of sugar to balance the savoriness of the fried rice.
*Spice:* Get the best peppercorns you can find. You can also think of adding hot sauces to the fried rice at the moment you add the soy sauce (that is.... if you opt to use soy sauce, which you don't, actually).
Plot twist: Add some Tare.... like, from the Ramen series. It would be COMPLETELY unexpected.
This is an underrated comment. I hope Alex can see this, and somehow help him in accomplishing this series.
The saucisson is a great idea, I was going to suggest pig's nose or pig's ears, both also very French.
I love how this channel has turned into "it really makes a difference how you prepare what goes into your food" :D
You are by far the best cooking channel online. Receive a hug from a Spaniard, another one whom intented to decypher the best Cantonese recipe.
for everyone saying you need day old rice....how do you think restaurants cook their fried rice? Reckon they're only using the stuff from yesterday? Cook your rice properly and it's good to go
Yesterday's left over rice is today's fried rice. Well, I really have no idea how it goes in high-end restaurants which is what Alex is going for. But in my part of Asia (where you have rice in every meal at home) fried rice is all about making yesterday's rice taste good again (this was before refrigerators and microwave ovens). Fried rice is usually eaten for breakfast and made from left over rice from last night's dinner. Again, that's how it is in my part of Asia, I can't speak for the rest. Also some parts of my country doesn't have reliable electricity so not using rice cookers isn't that strange.
no... you don't need a day old rice, but you need ones that are dry and at room temp, restaurants has heavy duty fridges that could cool down the rice quickly, and food stalls will just use rice that they cook hours and hours before they start selling.. so the most "foolproof" way at home is using a leftover rice...
and his way of steaming the rice is no less proper than rice that are boiled in a pot or cooked in a rice cooker..
it will produce the same result if it's dried and cooled down enough... again, the most foolproof way, is to leave it alone for half a day, minimal... you don't even need to put them in the fridge.. I have been eating rice every day my whole life, and nobody in my household have ever put our leftover rice in the fridge
the only fk'd up rice is if you messed up the water ratio... that's bye bye
Well, actually, they do tend to use rice cooked the day before. I've only got 30+ years experience cooking at a Vietnamese restaurant so what do I know.... We cook it in a rice cooker, store it in the fridge and then fry it the next morning. Only on the busiest days would we ever have to fry more rice in the middle of the day and then we'd use rice that we'd already cooked early in the morning and had been cooled....and even then we'd still not be using that particular fried rice for a couple hours at least to give it time to dry some more.
this man really don't know...
Hope u find your own twist on your fried rice. I usually cook them on left over rice, with left over chicken, meat, sausage, sea food basically anything.. U can also make a fusion with it.. Fried Rice has alot of styles, Chinese style, Indonesia style, Malaysia style and much more.
French influence on fried rice: escargot fried rice, clarified butter for the oil, garlic and chive garnish. bet it will be good
I used to cook escargot/snail fried rices and I once used butter instead of vegetables oil, I can guarantee you it was delicious
Mirepoix also can make the fried rice taste better too .
Tears seem appropriate. People underestimate just how difficult it is, working that wok.
The chef that trained me developed a curve at the base of his thumb, after 40 years behind the stove.
Love your work Alex!
Thank you from Germany. After 20 yrs suffering with terrible fried rice you finally showed me how to do it right.
Have you tried the Brazilian method? Lightly fry the rice in a spoon of oil for a minute before adding the water, just until they start becoming opaque - they won't brown. When you hear the crackling at the bottom the water is gone and it's time to turn off the heat and let it steam for ~10 minutes. Makes for very fluffy, completely separated grains.
One of the problem with "isolating the variables" is that plain rice fries differently than rice with eggs. Vegetables and protein fry differently when they're alone in the wok than when they are mixed with other ingredients which might also be high in oil and certainly have a high water content.
Ahh. Partial differential equations. Good luck finding an analytical solution for that.
@@ivorjawa I just graduated and you put me on edge with this.
That’s why you do them in a specific order, longest and wettest ingredients first!
That's where intuition comes in.
I've started using a microwave rice-cooker on my quest to make perfect sushi-rice and I believe it is pretty much steaming the rice as you want. You add rice, water & salt and since its microwave heated it is also heated from all sides at the same time with no part really transferring the heat. The pot fills with steam after a while and you can then influence the hydration by either letting it sit until the steam sets or opening it up and letting steam evaporate off the hot rice. You should look into it, basically just a plastic pot & extremely simple and convenient
Agree. I had one for years. $2.00 at Wal-Mart. I am lazy in the kitchen so it is perfect for me. Just like cooking bacon and hard boiled eggs in the air fryer. (Besides other things) Hehehe
Your quest to find how to make perfect sushi rice resulted in a microwave? Shock and horror from a guy who worked in a high end Japanese restaurant as a cook.
@@Nomadic813 :D I See what you mean, but two factors: as a home cook it still needs to stay practical & the microwave by itself is simply a heating device that when used correctly is in no way inferior and in this context is perfect for steaming rice. Actually I rarely use it expect for rice & defrosting berries
When Alex said, "Where's the Frenchness in there?" my brain immediatly went "So, you're gonna make it with butter?"
I'm sure you could get some wine in there too! ;)
You can. Use the finest, longest grained Basmati rice and do not was it but glaze it in cultured grass butter in a copper bottom sauce pan, add one part by volume chicken stock and half a part by volume dry white wine with prominent acid. Bring to a rolling boil for a minute, cover the sauce pan with a proper lid and turn off the heat. Ten minutes later you fluff the rice with a rice paddle and may proceed to frenchify all your other ingredients, for example with goose egg and black truffles.
Same!
I thought "Croissant-Fried-Rice" ...
I'd rather use duck fat, it is more heat resistant and I am sure he can muster something amazing. Duck fat Escargot fried Rice
Very impressed with your relentless pursuit of perfect fried rice.. pure admiration from a Chinese Grandmom from Canada.
Ah the steam method! I must say alex i too had ignored how my mother cooks rice using steam. As a student I had switched to rice cooker method. After failed attempts of boiling. Then later I gave in and tried my mums steam method! Definitely a game changer. Yes im indian but we dont eat basmati so it gives great granular body to rie.
Alex, you always do an incredible work with you videos! I’m amazed at the use of the Hero’s journey in the structure of all of your videos
I’m glad that I’m not the only one that’s been anticipating Uncle rating this. That been said, I’d genuinely like to try a comparison between leftover and fresh methods head to head. I’m sure the end result come down to mouth-feel
You really can't cook fresh rice for frying, it has to dry out overnight for optimal use. Cooking so much rice in such a deep pot was Alex's 1st misstep, it overcooked is what it seemed
Another important tip: When washing rice, make sure the water is transparent which means you will have to rinse the rice 3-4 times to get rid of as much starch as you can. Then, after washing, don't let the rice sit in its own wetness, that will make the rice sticky and won't fried-rice well.
just chuck the rice in the freezer for a half an hour and add a little flour to it and it will be perfect
@@user47362 washing the rice gets the starch off, won't adding flour to the rice essentially make washing it pointless?!
@@devinbaer2845 washing gets rid of the nasty stuff like arsenic... adding floor dries the rice and make it easier to make fried rice
@@user47362 that may be a benefit but the main reason you wash rice is to remove the starch from the surface so that it has a better texture when you cook it.
EEEEEE!!!!!! So excited to see Alex Fried Rice!! My mind is getting blown away at possibilities! I've only made perfect fried rice once in my 41yrs! It was a fluke! But always steam my rice for stir frying! As you say each grain is separate and has body. Otherwise I just use a rice cooker. I can't wait til next episode!! Just make sure to keep the ingredients few, flavours simple and with the Alex touch it will be the most perfect fried rice!!!!
This inspired me to try something again. I put two mason jar lids in my pressure cooker, and added an inch of water. On top of those, acting as a trivet, I put a large ramekin with brown rice, with water to cover barely to cover. I pressure cooked it for about 30 minutes. Perfect.
Hey Alex, I have a recommendation for your fried rice. Slowly fry strips of red onion until just starting to crisp. Put them aside and then lay them on top of the rice just before serving (spring onion 'inside' and the red onion 'outside'. Sometimes this is done with Biryani but many people don't realise, it's a perfect match for egg fried rice too!
When he mentioned “wok hey”, I was shook. As Chinese as I am, I never had wok-heyed fried rice at home because our fires aren’t as strong. And yet, he cooked wok-heyed fried rice!
his flame looks weaker than my home stove, highly doubt he could get any wok hei. does he even know what wok hei is or taste like lol.
@@lynustay2739 The guy just made his own stove in his previous vid. I think it can produce enough heat for wok hei
judging by the speed he moves while frying the rice you could tell its far from a professional 100k BTU setup. he just built a fancy home gas stove.
Slight wok hey maybe??? 🤣
I went down this rabbit hole of making fried rice half way through the pandemic and ate fried rice for literally 5 months perfecting it lmao 🤣
I was about to buy a fancy rice cooker when I saw this... I just did rice using this recipe and it's the best I ever had. Very easy plus almost no cleanup necessary... You just saved me a lot of money Alex!
Thank you Alex, i'm a french cook and I learn so much from you. I just tried that cooking method for rice (that I didn't know) it's like a dark area of cooking revealed. Thank you for the big picture.
In my country, the rice is only cooked partially via boiling. The second half of cooking is completed when it's transferred to the wok for frying.
I know everyone likes rice cookers, but there's different steamed rice techniques, so it depends on the technique used, but how my family steams rice; I definitely thinks it's better compared to rice cooker. To each their own. Not all rice cookers and rice cook the same too. We use tiger brand ,but I heard Zojirushi brand is good. Rice cooker is just convenient, but when there's no electricity or no rice cooker, steamed rice is the best option.
Pressure cooker makes the best rice.
i mean, there is nothing wrong with the steaming method he did... if you have 20 minutes to steam 100g of rice and then wait 2 hours for it to cook.
if you have more than one person to feed....
@@DisillusionedAcronym yea definitely nothing wrong with it, but I think people won't back down from rice cooker bc it's convenient. Steaming is just traditional way. Rice cookers also keep rice warm and fresh too, vs. steamed rice only warm for maybe an hour and after that needs to be reheat. There's definitely a texture difference too. Also it probably takes 30-40 minutes for my family to make about 10-15 cups of steamed rice for a pot ( about same for our rice cooker). We do both depending on the rice. Timing depends on the technique used.
@@poyi1013 I heard about but haven't tried it. Maybe one day.
@@maimoua781
it makes me laugh a little because it's literally called steamed rice.
i mean, for me, whatever works for you (or whoever) is good. but people feel like there can only be one way and that is the way they learned.
Inspiring work Alex. We get to watch a term end, if not a master’s thesis level of work, with every series you produce. I’m going to introduce these to my 9 year old. He can witness another example of the joy that comes with the pursuit of knowledge. Thank you for taking us on your journey.
I gave up on trying to cook rice "old fashion way" as it would frustrate me too much to throw it all away when it would fail :( Rice cooker is indeed great but you need to know your rice as well as how much water you need to put to have the desired firmness. I can pretty much nail it UNLESS I have to cook big quantity of rice... Then it's always either overcooked or undercooked, nice work Alex, as always !
This is a game changer for me. Just cooked this tonight and did a side by side with the rice cooker. Way better separation. Not really any harder to make and the fact that you can eat it the same day is great.
I have a suspicion that this steaming method is what the expensive rice cookers do.
I use an instant pot pressure cooker for rice and it works wonderfully. So much better than boiling it in a pan or the cheap rice cooker I used to use.
Everyone saying that he should use butter to make it more french when surely garlic is the obvious choice...
It would be garlic fried rice then which is more of a Filipino style fried rice 😁
@@MrEmrys24 I guess the French have been trading in the Philippines since the 1700’s so that would make sense.
@@littlelawson06 Most of the cooking methods in the Philippines are Indo/Malay derived, with the later addition of Spanish, Chinese, and American influences (colonization era). The use of garlic is heavily Chinese in our cooking as we also follow the rules of Garlic, Ginger, and Scallion (Onions) in almost all our native dishes. From our history books, the only trade that the French did with the Philippines would be wood and cloth, as the Philippines was already abundant with spices before the Spaniards (and their 15 French men) arrived on our shores. Also, garlic may be revered by the French, but they still do not consume as much garlic as Asians (more than 80% of the world's garlic market).
European things that might go well with Cantonese egg fried rice:
Truffle - seriously, the butane gas smell of truffle will perfectly complements the nutty delicately smoky wok hay aroma.
Fish roe - might not match bite-texture wise, but that ocean aroma usually complements egg fried rice really well, most Cantonese chef typically just use shrimp, crab meat, or scallop.
Smoked fish - rarely known in China, but used a lot in Europe, seriously goes very well with the wok hay smell, and may even accentuate it. The British did their kedgeree egg curry fried rice using smoked haddock, and that thing is a marvelous treat.
Wild European mushrooms - much more flavourful than ours, especially the delicately delicious porcini mushroom and the morel with its seafood-like characteristics
Chorizo - I like their smoky and savoury taste much better than the Cantonese lap cheong, which is sweet
Pté - full flavoured earthy liver té, which I don't like, but I would imagine the strong taste would complements the well rounded aroma of wok hay
Fancy Chinese restaurants loved to use the following well-known variants:
Salted fish - maybe because we don't know better about smoked fish
"XO" sauce - dried scallop, red chilli pepper, Jinhua ham, dried shrimp, garlic and canola oil. just Google this sauce, it is not Cognac for sure. This sauce simple elevates them to the right direction
Chewy or crunchy seafoods that goes well with wok hay - shrimps, scallops, squids, clams, or crab meat
Asparagus - for some reason (probably for that crunchy bite texture and that aromatic nutty taste)
Crunchy tofu skin - anything soy that went well with soy-sauce based dish
Crunchy fried / baked laver seaweed / nori - again, for that ocean smell that goes so well with wok hay
Shaoxing wine - for flambé trick show off
Chinkiang vinegar - the taste that awarded so many Singaporean bok chor noodle hawkers their Michelin stars
I'm not french, but when I think of french food I think of fresh vegetables, rich sauces, and butter. All of those things should be pretty easy to incorporate into a fried rice dish, looking forward to what you make Alex!
Despite alex being able to pull stuff out, your respect for the dish is so immensive its hard to be anything else than impressed. You go friend!
"We need to add a little of me to that dish. To infuse it with personality. Where's the French vibe, where's the Alex vibe in all this?"
Oh no. He's going to add the mother sauce mayonaise
I'd want that rice given a DNA test before I ate any of it for fear he did add a little bit of him to the mix.
Nah, he should add demiglace
@@piethein4355 it'll turn into Kichi Kichi omurice
@@piethein4355 demiglace would be nice method imo if @alex read this. It will be Japanese style fried rice that has soft creamy omellete and topped with demiglace, but still fried rice.
its infusion between asian and european.
I have tried rice with mayo and it was actually ok (homemade mayo, not store-bought)
Fried the egg first - egg acts like nonstick magic for the rice. In fact, it acts like nonstick magic for anything you fried next. Source - Mum and Dad who has a Cantonese Restuarant
Edit: I had written this halfway when he tried to naked fry the rice, and turned into a biscuit
It's the silver over gold right?
isn't that what he did though?
I believe you. I have heard many say that left over refrigerated rice is best for fried rice. I didn't see him do that here. Whats your take on that ?
@@amaanmohammad1190 did you not watch the video through? he explained it very thoroughly.
But my eggs stick, so.... 🤦🏽♀️
I am Chinese, seeing the title, I am like"WTH, there is another way to cook rice other than steaming?'
Clay pot rice too
Yesss. Keep on showing us these “new” (steaming rice already existed but is not as used by others around the world) techniques and how to take things next level by breaking convention (at least for a bunch of us). Merci
Ive been frying rice all my life. Im 60 years old grandmother.
Use left over rice or overnight rice that's been chilled in the fridge.
You can use any rice as long as its not sushi rice or any sticky rice eg. glutinous rice. Long grain rice or Thai Jasmine rice are still the best.
I'm from Malaysia living n working in NZ and high grade rice are dear in NZ.
So I just use the med grade basmati rice or any long grain rice or med grade Jasmine rice. It still work as long as the rice cooked is cold so they won't become sticky when frying.
Alex you are doing very well.
Well done!🤗
Interesting facts about the steaming method:
Here in Taiwan, back in the ancient times, people steam their rice only at special days for celebrations because it tastes better. Nowadays, we steam the rice EVERY DAY because the work is done by a RICE COOKER and it tastes really good.
@Kenta Glad to hear that we share the same energy for the rice. But by saying "we steam rice every day", I really meant it because the rice cooker we use is designed to adopt the streaming method as its mechanism. We put the rice in the inner pot with water and add some water outside the pot so that it creates vapor to cook the inner pot until all the water evaporates.
I wonder if you have the same type of rice cookers in your country
@@maboroshihananetsumi im from Indo too. I dont think i ever see your type of rice cooker. In here the rice cooker just boil the rice until its cooked. Both rice and water in the same pot..
@@kurokazu4941 We call it 電鍋 (while the boiling type 電子鍋), and the most well-known manufacturer is Tatung.
Using tatung rice cooker?
How do you steam the rice in your rice cooker? What brand?
Adding the Alex touch: Use clarified butter instead of oil and sprinkle croissant flakes on top? :)
Either that or somehow making a stirfry/ramen hybrid. Whenever I think of or bring up Alex it always makes me remember his ramen series
I’d say use lardons as a local ingredient but it’s up to Alex.
Sometimes people combine lard with rice before stir-frying, which makes it easier to separate and heat up more quickly
I really love our transparent relationship, the trial, the error, and the succes. most people only share the last part of the story.
I really enjoyed the sound in this video. Along with Alex's sparkling commentary and practical discussion, the immersive sounds really brought the experience home to me.
Yo Alex! You need a ‘’Wok Smarter’’ T shirt! That’s what you’re doing 😆
My method of cooking rice on stove top is:
1. wash the rice 2 to 3 times until water is somewhat clear and not cloudy/starchy
2. water should be just below the first line of finger ( I measure the water with my finger just lightly touching the rice)
3. wait for the rice to boil and let it cook until water is reduced by more than half (or until there's a little bit of water on top of rice remaining)
4. turn off the heat and let is sit for 5-8 minutes with the lid on (don't open the lid cause you want the steam to be trapped in and cook the rice)
5. heat on low (very very low) and steam the rice for about 5 minutes (or until you can smell the rice) then it's done
-Yields dry chewy rice great for fried rice just leave at room temperature to cool completely. This is the method I've been using for years cause I prefer dry and chewy rice.
resto level use steaming with bamboo basket , no boiling.
its different with our home cooked
i found that, the thing that used to mess up my rice the most, is that i didnt seperate it enough while cooling. after cooking, i either left it in a pot, or a bowl, or the container that i steamed it in. The bottom of it always got soggy, because the steam couldnt escape. that alone wont make anything perfect by itself, but making sure to fluff up the rice, also spreading it out, both to let steam escape, helped a lot :)
Yeah, the pot method works fine, but IME you MUST fluff up the rice after it's mostly done, and then put the lid back on to let it steam another 5-10 minutes. Then let it cool off if you're making fried rice.
I followed this method and it works out perfectly. Thanks for this. It is going to be my method from now on.
You combine cuisine with competitiveness with your own self, and I love it SO MUCH!
About a year ago I went through a similar process for trying to get perfect fried rice (and I took over a year to get it down), the right cooking method (steaming and then chilling for at least 2 hours) carries you 60% to the right texture and individuality. After that, having enough loose oil in the pan I'd say is one of the most important things to have when you're frying. It should almost feel like too much, and you never want to pre-fry anything else before because it'll get too saucy and stick up the rice. I usually add an egg after the rice has fried for a minute, that way the rice does most of the work of making the egg break up into little rice-sized pieces.
Tip of the day: that water you use to wash the rice can be used to water fruit trees or flowers as it has nutrients to boost the Potassium and other nutrients. It works well.
Literally laughed out loud during the steamed glasses part
A few things... To steam rice, try letting it soak overnight, drain the water, and wash well (maybe 5-7 rinses) then steam in a cloth. Each grain will have absorbed the exact amount of water it needed. The way you steamed it inside a bowl would leave the bottom a bit too wet. Secondly, you want to coat the rice grains in egg, not have overcooked eggs stirred into your rice. To achieve this, you want to make a divot in your fried rice, on high heat, add the raw beaten egg and stir vigorously until gooey, then toss with the rice until dry. A bit of corn starch slurry into the eggs when beating also helps. Lastly, MSG is a crucial ingredient to make authentic tasting fried rice.
That’s very satisfactory for me from the first fired rice to this one as a Hong Konger. The whole series of Fired rice impressed me with the effort of every part.
whenever you steam it or cooking it with a rice cooker if the rice is not clean enough, it couldn't separate easily when you stir-fry. make sure all rice starch excess is removed. the starch is the glue, the less starch causes easier to the rice tosaperate each other.
Agreed, the wash water was still cloudy in the video. It should be clear. I usually find 5-7 washes works, though it does depend on the rice batch.
As a Chinese person, I'm super happy you're taking this dish and making it more "Alex". That's what food is about, there's Chinese food around the world, in Vietnam, in Japan, in Italy, and Peru, etc etc. As the food travel, it adapts to different flavors, and these kinds of cultural exchange makes some of the most delicious food there is.
So best of luck to your adventure on making it your own !
I hope you can figure out how to get cheese into chinese food. that will be a huge accomplishment
ERROR ERROR ERROR
In Reality, this is a Universally very wrong method of "Cooking Rice".
The Best and Healthiest Method is to cook the Rice Naturally and Unpolished. This Way You retain The Vitamin B12.
Sincerely Yours,
Alex you should do a whole episode just on the different ways to cook rice besides the pot method. Your view of the taste of rice would be forever changed.
I agree i did a HUGE rice experiment for the past 16 months where i cooked over 16 types of rice from agesd to non aged and polished and non polished cooked each in 6-10 ways and its a eye opener. Some rice is just rubbish some rice needs cooking straining and then steaming on low heat for a while some like absorb methods some need more some need less water. Some get better by adding salt to the water some don't. many people just grab a random bag of rice and cook it in a random way but theres so much more to it. i use actual math formulas when cooking rice now and that may sound complicated but its relatively simple once you figure out what rice you prefer for what purpose and what the ratios are.
Hi Alex, I'm a big fan and very excited to see you taking on my favorite dish: fried rice. I learned to make it in China about a decade ago and have cooked it 2-3 times a week since then. I wanted to list some of my favorite extra ingredients just in case you see this/ you are still looking for ideas:
1. ground white pepper
2. red chili peppers sliced same size as green onion
3. thinly sliced napa cabbage
4. roasted peanuts
5 toasted sesame seeds
6 this is the weird one, (I got the idea from Maangchi's omu rice recipe) a little bit of cheddar cheese. I know it sounds like it wouldn't go but it adds some great umami to the dish. A little oyster sauce can have a similar effect if you want something less western.
Jesus, I'm so excited to watch each video. Your videos fill me with such excitement and passion. Thank you.
Bleeps the f-word when he says it. Doesn't bleep "putain" - some of us English people know you said a naughty word Alex!
But does the demonetization algorithm?
@@sharpe3698 We curse a lot in French. It's not being vulgar. It's giving more emotion to what we say. Just like intonation.
"whore" in russian, for example, is not a particularly taboo word either.
does... does alex just walk around saying "jacque pepin" when he's happy?
I think he was kind of singing it
I have been cooking *insert any food* wrong my whole life.
Let's be real that's 99 % of us.
Well, anything you do that makes you feel good (in a kitchen) isn't really wrong. It's all about preferences.
Nah, everything I cook is the biblically correct version of how that food should be cooked (including the errors).
nothing wrong or right , only which level do you want to achieve
Most people eat to eat not eat to enjoy the food. I never eat anything i dont realy like and enjoy thus i always try to make the best food i can and even when im like DANG THIS IS GOOD i still strife for perfection and improvements.
@@crazystupidgamer Yes and no. Preferences differ for sure but you can't say you have a preference without trying the other options. So never go with the 'This is good enough' attitude but keep improving and experimenting/adopting as thats how you trully fall in love with food. 7 years ago when i started caring about food i bought instant noodles and fried some eggs ham or chicken or shrimp en veggies and tossed in the noodles and added some indonesian soy sauce and called it perfection and really liked it. Now 7 years later if i make that im dissapointed with myself because i was open to improvements and know what is possible with those same ingredients.
you can use a steamer basket as well. get a dried luffa, you find them at bath stores as well as asian stores. cut and roll it out and lay it into your steamer basked, then place your rice on top.
I make fresh rice and let it cool to room temperature for fried rice. I also use the method of lightly toasting (not browning) the rice before the water goes in. The rice grains are always separate.
Nobody "squeezes the brain juice" better than Alex when it comes to cooking!
"Left over rice" method were just home use, in Chinese restaurant they don't have time for that, they cook fresh rice and cool it down the same day.
As long as the rice cools down slightly and allows the starch to crystalize, it is good enough to fry. Spreading it out for 10min is plenty good enough.
I would get some better soy sauce, I get some from japan and the difference is noticeable.
He's making a Chinese dish? Also a Japanese dipping soy sauce is not what you use for cooking a Chinese dish. Cooking soy and dipping soy are 2 different things as are Chinese and Japanese rice. Westerners just like Japanese soy sauce more because it's milder, brewed differently with different ingredients for different times to make it less harsh. It's a bit like saying a Pino Grigio and a Cab Sav are the same thing.
If it's good enough for a top class chef, then it's good enough for me! Can't wait to try this at home. I bought myself a wok burner and am really looking forward to trying this. Thx for the work getting the secrets of master chefs!
I use a little sriracha for spice and ketchap manis for sweet and oyster sauce for tangy ness thoose three together with a little white pepper and then small splash of sesam oil at the end. The sauce caramelizes and gets real good
Was everyone as focused on the reflection in the first mins and thinking "yep he's talking to his parents wall".
Or is it just me
He was talking to the fourth wall
I opened a birthday card up once and rice poured out everywhere… It was from Uncle Ben.
Was it fried rice, or raw rice?
This joke will go over lots of heads
With great power comes great ricesponsibility
Dude, your uncle’s got some good jokes☺️
did you get a ccp membership too?
Uncle Roger should review this series after Alex perfects his fried rice.
Edit: He already did one :D
He already said he will... Or more exactly, that he is looking.dorward for this serie
That dude is overplaying his "asian-ness" why does everyone like him?
he commented on a lot of the videos... If you want my gut feeling... they are working on some type of collab. They don't live THAT far away either. ;)
@@christopherbishop1858 because he’s funny and has actual culinary knowledge. Maybe if you could see past his “over-played asian-ness” you’d actually enjoy him and learn something from him
@@christopherbishop1858 When I use that accent people call me racist. It's not fair. But seriously, he's doing an imitation of Mickey Rooney or something and it's just as obnoxious.
We use short grain rice, and hot off the cooker too. Go to Ding Tai Fung, Paris, and try some of their fried rice.
alex i just want to say. i LOVE how easy you make it to skip your adds
The rice looked great but still no mention of MSG, I'm confused!
He's too pretentious to admit rice cookers are good. He'll never acknowledge the benefit of msg.
@@BraxtonHoward He has said in previous comments that he owns two rice cookers. So that part of your statement is patently false. As for the other part....you may be right. But the pretentious barb is also wrong...he is nothing like that.
@@AlyxiSistahTweaky25 He said they don't make better rice. He is either wrong or has bad rice cookers.
Also, watch the video on this series where he eats the chef's rice and tell me it isn't one of the most pretentious productions you've ever seen.
@@BraxtonHoward zojirushi rice cookers make the best rice, even Japanese people use rice cookers and they like their rice perfect. This series seems like a joke, won't be watching more of this pretentious garbage
His aim is to make high quality fried rice using good ingredients akin to what Chef Samuel Lee made for him. There's nothing wrong with using MSG but MSG alone is simple in terms of flavour, it's just plain umami.
There are other ways of adding umami to a dish that add complexity to the flavour. Fish sauce adds a funky fermented quality to the flavour, mushrooms or mushroom extracts add an earthy quality to the flavour, smoked meats add a smoky quality to the flavour, etc.
Uncle Rogers ancestors are singing "Fuiyoooooooooh......" in unison.
We would love to see Uncle Roger show up here!!!!
nahh i think he will say a lot of haiyaaaa
So I learned this secret for rice cooking from experimenting with cooking rice in the microwave (which if you have never tried, makes for good rice because you can make rice in a 9x13 baking dish or a large flat bottomed bowl). The secret to cooking homogeneously is in the depth of rice. Use a very wide pan and don't put in more than 1cm deep (uncooked) rice. The fluffing of rice afterwards is specifically there to evaporate water and aid in homogenizing the final product. This is also why it is recommended to use day old rice that has sat in the fridge, giving the rice time to even out the water content (don't knock it until you have tried it). Of course, it is critical to cook the rice al dente in the first place (that translucent pearl look). Pan frying the rice will recover a slightly overcooked rice. Badly overcooked rice will never recover, use it to make porridge/congee. Jasmine has a nice balance of amylose to starch. Try Calrose/Japonica/Sushi/Nishiki rice, it is also fabulous. Your eggs are still overcooked. Your rice could use a little more time (or heat) in the pan. A touch of toasted sesame oil will enhance the nuttiness, as will carmelized shallots. Your scallions look better, remember the difference between the white part and the green parts. White part goes in for about 2 minutes and the green part is basically cooked for 30 seconds (the time it takes to toss them and to plate, cut the rings thinner - they finish cooking in the bowl).
Dry the rice in a fridge before cooking fried rice is the perfect way to go. In Thailand, we even dry it for 1 night lol.
Everything will be easier for those who got a rice cooker but this steam technique is very interesting, I should give it a try. Btw, great vid Alex! 😍
Yum! It's looking terrific! You're right on the verge! I have no doubt chef will be impressed!
You know alex has nailed it when he begins preying to the god of omelette ツ
The woman from chinese cooking demystified already told you to steam your rice a few episodes before didn't she? So why didn't you do it in the first place
a man learns from his mistake before he listens to woman so as she can tell him later you told so
Alex is also a storyteller so I assume he worked much of this out at the begining but he wanted to take his viewers on journey.
Alex did not pay enough attention to the women.
so he can make one more episode about using the steaming methods
"Gotta keep it seperated."
If only he could hav cleared that sample.
Very nice and helpful. Not only did I learn how to make my rice better, but I learned there is a Jacques Pépin song 😊
I have a steamer rice cooker which I LOVE. I think it is an automated version of what you have done with your steamer pot. Brand is Tatung.