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[0 - 18] (object thumping) (food sizzling) (metal clanging)

[24 - 25] (light music) - Hello there.

[25 - 27] Welcome back to another episode of "Anything With Alvin."

[27 - 29] This week, we're gonna be making a giant,

[29 - 31] 18-pound fried chicken and rice bowl,

[31 - 34] which is served in a restaurant in Saitama, Japan.

[34 - 35] This restaurant is very popular

[35 - 37] for large, giant-sized servings,

[37 - 39] and I think the owner's message of wanting

[39 - 41] to make people happy with lots of food is something

[41 - 42] I can definitely relate to.

[42 - 45] I think this is gonna be a very fun episode.

[45 - 46] - [Babish] I wanna thank Squarespace

[46 - 47] for sponsoring this episode

[47 - 49] and supporting the BCU from the very beginning.

[49 - 53] I'm excited to announce my new website, babi.sh,

[53 - 55] or as I like to call it Babi dot sh,

[55 - 57] the ultimate destination for all things BCU.

[57 - 59] There's all the recipes from my videos,

[59 - 60] exclusive new recipes.

[60 - 62] You can search by genre or ingredient.

[62 - 64] You can even toggle between US and metric

[64 - 66] and scale the serving size.

[66 - 68] We heard your feedback about everything you wanted

[68 - 70] from this site, so that's what we did.

[70 - 72] You can get 10% off your first Squarespace order

[72 - 75] by visiting squarespace.com/babish.

[75 - 76] - [Alvin] All right, let's get started.

[76 - 78] Now, we have a lot of ingredients here,

[78 - 79] which means there is quite a lotta tasks

[79 - 80] that need to be done.

[80 - 83] First, we're gonna make the marinade for the karaage,

[83 - 85] or Japanese-style fried chicken.

[85 - 86] For this, we're gonna first and go ahead

[86 - 89] and Microplane 12 cloves of garlic.

[89 - 91] This is very heavy garlic flavor.

[91 - 93] Also going to peel and Microplane

[93 - 95] about two inches of ginger.

[95 - 97] These are gonna be the main aromatics

[97 - 99] that will really flavor that chicken through and through.

[99 - 100] That's gonna go into a bowl,

[100 - 102] combining with 1/2 cup of soy sauce,

[102 - 106] 1/2 cup of sake, 1/4 cup of Mirin, 1/2 cup of sugar,

[106 - 110] and two tablespoons of good old MSG for some extra flavor.

[110 - 112] Once the marinade is nice and mixed together,

[112 - 113] it tastes really good, by the way,

[113 - 115] we're gonna go ahead and work on our chicken.

[115 - 116] Now, for this chicken,

[116 - 119] I've usually found that karaage uses boneless,

[119 - 120] but skin-on, chicken thighs,

[120 - 123] which are super delicious once marinaded and fried up.

[123 - 125] So we're gonna use about six pounds of this chicken,

[125 - 127] taking each of these thighs and cutting it

[127 - 128] into fairly large chunks.

[128 - 130] In the video, it seemed like their fried chicken was quite

[130 - 132] on the larger side, so we're gonna go ahead

[132 - 133] and stick to that premise.

[133 - 135] Once all of this chicken has been cut up and sliced,

[135 - 137] that's gonna go directly into the marinade,

[137 - 139] tossed around a bit to make sure

[139 - 140] that the marinade coats everything,

[140 - 143] and into the fridge for about 30 minutes to one hour,

[143 - 145] at least, to let the flavors soak through.

[145 - 147] Now, in the video, they definitely served

[147 - 148] a huge portion of rice.

[148 - 150] This time, we're gonna go ahead and cook four cups of rice

[150 - 152] in a rice cooker.

[152 - 152] Now, we have to make sure

[152 - 154] that we wash the rice first, though.

[154 - 155] That is rule number one.

[155 - 156] Go ahead and give it a rinse in the sink

[156 - 159] until the water runs clear, then back into the rice cooker

[159 - 161] with the water level that reaches about one length

[161 - 163] of your pinky above the surface.

[163 - 165] Now, to combat all that fried chicken in the bowl,

[165 - 168] a really common topping that is served with fried foods

[168 - 171] is a giant mound of cabbage, thinly, thinly sliced

[171 - 172] with some lemon.

[172 - 174] So here I have a cabbage and I'm attempting

[174 - 176] to slice this as thinly as possible, so that way,

[177 - 178] you can just eat it as almost a side salad

[178 - 179] with your fried food.

[179 - 181] Our chicken has been marinading for about one hour,

[181 - 184] so this part, we're gonna go ahead, take it out,

[184 - 185] and add in some potato starch.

[185 - 188] Not flour, not corn starch, but potato starch,

[188 - 189] about three cups' worth.

[189 - 190] Because once this fries up,

[190 - 192] you get these nice little craggly bubbles

[192 - 195] and a nice chewy, gelatinous coating underneath,

[195 - 196] which makes for a really fun texture

[196 - 198] that you don't get with normal flour.

[198 - 200] And the best part is, the marinade doesn't get dumped out.

[200 - 202] You're actually mixing the starch into the marinade

[202 - 204] to form a batter that'll be delicious

[204 - 205] for the chicken itself.

[205 - 207] So all of that flavor just gets locked in.

[207 - 208] Before we fry the chicken,

[208 - 210] we do have some other ingredients to prepare

[210 - 213] for the stir fry and the final plating of the bowl.

[213 - 215] First is the stir fry, which seems to be more

[215 - 217] of like a pork stir fry with some onions

[217 - 219] and Chinese chives, not scallions.

[219 - 222] So we have a bunch of Chinese chives,

[222 - 224] which are a lot more mild than scallions.

[224 - 225] They're not pungent at all.

[225 - 227] They're just really mellow and delicious.

[227 - 229] Cut these into nice little matchsticks,

[229 - 232] and go ahead and slice this pork that we got from the store.

[232 - 233] And that's already been pretty thinly sliced,

[233 - 236] but we're gonna cut this even more into half.

[236 - 238] Then we're gonna go ahead and boil four eggs.

[238 - 239] We're aiming for a soft boil,

[239 - 242] so that's gonna be about six minutes and 45 seconds.

[242 - 243] And in the same boiling water,

[243 - 245] we're gonna quickly blanch some bean sprouts

[245 - 248] for about a minute or so, approximately three cups.

[248 - 250] This is a nice little bed that's gonna absorb

[250 - 251] all those flavors from the stir fry

[251 - 253] and any of that from the chicken.

[253 - 255] That goes on top of the rice underneath all that goodness.

[255 - 257] All right, now it's time to fry the chicken.

[257 - 259] We're gonna go ahead and drop this chicken

[259 - 263] into approximately 350- to 375-degree Fahrenheit oil,

[263 - 264] depending on how hot your burner is,

[264 - 266] as the chicken will cool this down.

[266 - 268] That's gonna go into until every part of the chicken

[268 - 270] has now turned a beautiful golden brown.

[270 - 272] We're gonna take that out and let that rest

[272 - 275] on a tray lined with a rack and some paper towels

[275 - 276] to drain off.

[276 - 278] This is gonna take some time, as we do have a lotta chicken

[278 - 280] and we don't wanna overcrowd this pan.

[280 - 282] But we have to make that each portion of chicken

[282 - 286] is fried evenly, crispily, and goldenly all the way through.

[286 - 288] Those are not words, but now they are.

[288 - 289] While the chicken has been fried,

[289 - 291] it is now resting to cool down a little bit,

[291 - 293] we're gonna go ahead and work on our stir fry.

[293 - 295] First, into a flaming wok, we're gonna go

[295 - 298] with a couple tablespoons of oil and throw in our pork,

[298 - 300] making sure that's just barely cooked through

[300 - 302] before we start to proceed with the other ingredients.

[302 - 305] After realizing that this wok might cause a lot of liquid

[305 - 307] to stay at the bottom and steam the pork,

[307 - 310] I'm gonna go ahead and try to expand the surface area

[310 - 312] by dividing this portion into two woks instead.

[312 - 314] That way, we can get a lot more evaporation

[314 - 316] and less of that steamy, bubbly liquid stuff

[316 - 318] that ends up on the bottom of a lotta stir fries.

[318 - 320] Add about three yellow onions

[320 - 322] that have been sliced relatively rustically,

[322 - 324] and add our beautiful sauces and seasonings:

[324 - 328] soy sauce, oyster sauce, MSG, sugar,

[328 - 329] and half the amount of white pepper,

[329 - 331] as that can be quite a bit strong.

[331 - 333] I wish I could actually tell you the exact amounts I used,

[333 - 336] but for this kind of stuff, especially when stir frying,

[336 - 337] really everything is just by eye.

[337 - 339] It's a little bit hard to explain,

[339 - 341] but the best part is, you can always just taste it

[341 - 343] and adjust it depending on what it needs

[343 - 344] or what it has too much of.

[344 - 346] And since the chives don't need that long to cook,

[346 - 347] those are gonna get thrown in closer to the end,

[347 - 350] just so we can break the rawness and allow the aromas

[350 - 354] of the green stuff to go in with the other stuff. Very scientific.

[354 - 356] All right, and that's actually pretty much it

[356 - 358] as far as cooking goes and it is time to assemble

[358 - 361] and hopefully make this plate carryable.

[361 - 363] Our rice has been done, so we're gonna go ahead,

[363 - 364] take that out from the cooker

[364 - 366] and mound up a nice big portion.

[366 - 368] On top of the rice goes our blanched bean sprouts

[368 - 371] from earlier, serving as a sponge and a flavor absorber

[371 - 372] for the rest of the food.

[372 - 374] Then we're gonna take the stir fry from the pot

[374 - 377] and dump it all onto one half of the portion,

[377 - 378] like they did in the video,

[378 - 381] and then mound the cabbage on the other side of the plate,

[381 - 383] on top of which, which all of the chicken

[383 - 385] that we fried will rest.

[385 - 386] Now this is a lot of chicken.

[386 - 389] I think alone, if you combine the chicken and the batter,

[389 - 391] it's probably about eight pounds of chicken right here,

[391 - 393] including all that liquid and flour.

[393 - 396] Then after the chicken has been kind of Tetrised into place

[396 - 399] and is definitely a lot higher than the stir fry side,

[399 - 400] we're gonna go ahead and crack open

[400 - 403] these beautiful soft-boiled eggs right down the middle.

[403 - 405] Make a little trail or a little divider

[405 - 407] to tell you that one side of the plate is goodness

[407 - 410] and the other side of the plate is another pile of goodness.

[410 - 412] And final touch would be a nice half of a lemon

[412 - 414] that will be squeezed on top of the chicken

[414 - 417] and the cabbage as we consume this beauty.

[417 - 419] I present to you, our interpretation

[419 - 423] of that giant, 18-pound fried chicken stir fry rice bowl

[423 - 425] that they serve in this amazing restaurant in Japan.

[425 - 427] Now, upon seeing this, I can definitely agree

[427 - 428] with the owner.

[428 - 430] When you have food like this in such a large quantity

[430 - 431] that looks delicious,

[431 - 434] it can't help but bring a smile to someone's face.

[434 - 436] So without further ado, let's dig in.

[436 - 438] Now, the stir fry is insanely delicious.

[438 - 440] Whether it was the vegetables or the sauces

[441 - 443] that were just really flash fried with some pork in the wok,

[443 - 446] this stuff was so addicting that I could've ate it forever

[446 - 447] with the rice underneath.

[447 - 449] The bean sprouts also served as a really nice sponge

[449 - 451] to absorb any of the extra juice that leaked down

[451 - 452] into the rice.

[452 - 454] The chicken is also very good as well.

[454 - 455] It's juicy. It's crispy.

[456 - 458] It's more flavorful than typical fried chicken

[458 - 460] because the marinade itself actually became the batter.

[460 - 462] That is really addicting to eat.

[462 - 464] Now, I definitely can't eat all this,

[464 - 466] and this dish served in the restaurant is not meant

[466 - 468] for one person, so I must bring in the rest of the studio

[468 - 469] to help me out with this.

[469 - 471] The best part about making these kinds of things is

[471 - 473] that when everybody in the studio is just going nuts

[473 - 475] about how good a dish is,

[475 - 476] that's one of the best feelings you can have.

[476 - 478] The second best feeling is that when you ask

[478 - 480] if anybody wants to take stuff home,

[480 - 481] everybody raises their hands.

[481 - 484] So after we did as much damage as we could,

[484 - 485] that is exactly what we're going to do:

[485 - 488] pack this up so everybody has a nice healthy portion

[488 - 492] of rice, fried chicken, and pork stir fry for the next day,

[492 - 493] and if you're lucky, an egg or two.

[493 - 496] I took two, 'cause I like eggs.

[496 - 497] - [Babish] Thanks again to Squarespace

[497 - 498] for sponsoring today's episode.

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[506 - 508] All of my websites over the years have been with Squarespace

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[512 - 514] We were able to use Squarespace's website builder

[514 - 516] and custom integrations to create a site

[516 - 518] that provides a powerful cooking experience.

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[526 - 529] (light music continues)