- Hey everybody, my name is Chef Marcus Samuelsson
and I'm gonna talk to you about on of favorite things.
Fried chicken!
When I opened Red Rooster, it was clear to me
we had to have New York's best fried chicken.
To go about it was very personal to me.
I did not grow up with fried chicken.
It's something I learned to love
when I came to America.
I wanted to do something that was inspired by Harlem,
but also put my own accent to it.
One of the reasons why I became a chef
is because my grandmother Helga,
she cooked every meal for us growing up,
and I assisted her.
I was her little sous-chef.
And the love and the encouragement I got
from my grandmother was really one of the reasons
why I became a chef.
Cooking is really my favorite thing to do.
Any time I find a new ingredient,
or get introduced to new flavor,
I go really crazy and I love it.
And I've been introduced to so many different cultures
and each one really has something I bring back.
A new technique, a new method,
and I always try to bring it into my kitchen
and it's one of my favorite things about cooking
that you never quite stop learning.
We got two different recipes.
One is traditional
and one is really inspired by a Mexican sauce.
So the first recipe,
it sort of goes back and forth between
being super traditional,
but then there's also some choices
and some left turns that we do, right?
It's all about packing the bird with great flavors.
Fried chicken, for me, it's almost like
a noise, a sound that you want out of it.
Should be super crunchy on the outside
and moist on the inside.
Fried chicken, for me, it's such an iconic recipe
that speaks sort of to American culture,
very often Southern American culture.
I wanna listen to some really good music,
sit outside , eat with my hands
and just share it with some friends, you know?
That's living, that's good life.
So, I'm from Ethiopia
and the main spice blend in Ethiopia is called Berbere,
so for my chicken shake the main ingredient is Berbere.
It's a beautiful sort of mild chili blend.
This is to make sure that the chicken gets the
smokey beautiful spicy flavor
that makes our fried chicken so very special.
This dish, I was really intimidated by it, right?
You know, I'm 50 yards away from Sylvia's,
the most famous African American restaurant in the country
and they have really good fried chicken,
so for me, I really thought about how to do it different
and not serving the white meat,
serving dark meat, bone in helped me
really sort of take a stand on what type
of chicken we wanted to serve.
The other thing that was important for me
was this crispy sound when the skin is really crackling
and super crispy.
That's a happy sound to me.
So when you fry chicken at home,
you wanna fry it twice.
Not once, but twice.
The second fry, only fry it for three minutes.
It's gonna be super crispy and super delicious.
When I walk through the dining room
and I hear that sound, and I hear people are
really excited about biting into the chicken.
You know, they have the bib on,
the tie, if they've worn a tie it's probably on the side,
the hands are looking messy,
they're biting into the chicken,
that's a party.
That's eating fried chicken at Red Rooster.
So the second recipe you're gonna see is
really taking my influences from
Mexico and Latin cooking.
It's all about packing the bird with great flavors
and in the sauce here that is really
inspired by a Mexican Mole,
so it's chocolate, we have beer,
we have chilies, we have onions.
By the way, this chocolate sauce is amazing.
You can use it with grilled lamb,
with grilled pork.
It's an amazing sauce that would work with
any type of protein,
but for me, it's perfection used with fried chicken.
(upbeat music)
One of my secrets is our chicken shake.
It is delicious.
I put it on everything.
So this dish really comes from a love for fried chicken.
You might have heard of it.
We have a place called Red Rooster,
where the bird is king.
(upbeat music)
Now just give it good old shake.
Sometimes I call it chicken snow
and you get it.
This is absolutely delicious.
So I got water.
Gonna bring this to a boil
with salt and then when it's cooled down
we're gonna pour it on top of the chicken.
I love to brine my chicken.
I you want a really juicy bird,
there's a couple of steps you wanna do.
Bone in, dark meat
and brine the bird.
Put a lid on, let it sit a minimum two hours, or overnight.
So, the marinade.
I love this marinade.
So I ate this dish with my buddy James
who actually did this sauce on a beef brisket
and it was so good!
And James, he just loves Mexican food,
and I love Mexican food,
so we too the chocolate sauce that we loved
with fried chicken, married the two together,
toss toss, there it is.
(upbeat music)
Key step, the chocolate sauce.
(upbeat music)
And this chocolate sauce is so rich and delicious,
and you're gonna see why.
It's all about the spices and flavor that
we're gonna add on to this dish.
(upbeat music)
Food, for me, is all about flavor,
but making great flavor takes time.
Got a little bit of heat here.
I'm gonna add in the chili and add in as much as you like.
It's a rich sauce, right?
So it's beer, chocolate, spices, all simmer together.
We're gonna let this simmer
and then gonna add in chocolate
and butter.
This sauce is good for any type.
You wanna grill, or you wanna fry something,
and then brush this sauce on top.
It will be delicious.
So, I'm gonna drudge it.
The semolina and the cornstarch,
all there for flour.
They're all there to make it crunchier.
So we're just gonna whisk that.
I love seasoned oil.
I'm just putting a little bit of garlic
when I heat up the oil.
Just put big garlic cloves in
and then I'm taking them out.
Just for flavor, right?
And it's 12 minutes then let it rest.
The resting part is key so it stays nice and juicy
We got the beautiful chocolate sauce in there, right?
Look at that.
Nice, this is so delicious.
Now we're just gonna add a little bit of heat
and then we're gonna finish to brighten up,
a little bit of fresh herb.
I love eating this dish with my friends, right?
Because it's a dish where I talk about finger smacking,
finger licking good,
'cause it's rich and delicious,
and it's also something to do with spring and summer, right?
You wait for those picnics,
you wait for those barbecues.
Everyone is your family is gonna love this meal,
I guarantee you.
One of the reasons why I love sharing my recipes
like this is because I want people to get excited
and have a recipe that really works well.
You know, for me as a chef,
it's all about sharing, all about trust
and having an experience that's gonna be super delicious
and creating memories with your friends and families,
and this recipe, I guarantee you,
it's fun, it's delicious,
it's gonna be yours.
You can go and make it again and again and again.
Cooking, for me, is all about feeding your own curiosity.
Fried chicken is not something I grew up with.
I had to learn it.
I had to learn it as an adult, it can be hard.
As a chef you're stubborn,
but for me, it was just great.
I never had fried chicken until I was probably 22-23.
I loved it
and I was like "I wanna learn how to make this
and I wanna learn how to make a better version."
This is my better version.
These are two takes.
Now they're yours.
Go out and cook it,
and I promise you, you will enjoy it.
(light music)