- What in the prehistoric world?
- I feel so special.
- [Will] You want fried chicken?
Here you go, you got it.
- It's wider than my face.
- Mwah.
- I'm really scared, now.
The competition just got so stiff.
- Rolling!
♪ Ah! ♪
(hands clap)
- So today we are trying each other's fried chicken
and we're gonna give a score from 1 to 10.
And the one with the highest score
is going to be the winner.
- I am a self-proclaimed fried chicken lover.
If fried chicken was a person, I would marry it.
- It's fast, it's easy to cook,
you can pretty much get it anywhere,
it's tasty.
(notes glistening)
- Hi, I'm Tammi
and I am a recipe developer
who writes recipes for home cooks.
(upbeat music)
I am extremely excited to try everybody's fried chicken.
It's gonna be lit.
- Fried chicken is a science.
It's very important because you need to make sure
that you've got the right amount of time,
with the right amount of coating to get ultimate crispiness.
I'm looking for real crunch.
(crisp skin crunching)
- It needs to be tender and juicy and succulent.
- I think what makes a good fried chicken, probably,
is flavor all the way through.
I am a strong believer in brining.
Please at least salt the chicken beforehand.
(air whooshing)
- So the dish that I'm making is Taiwanese Fried Chicken.
So I've been influenced to make this dish
for my love of Hot-Star.
It is one of my favorite fried chicken dishes,
so it's a nod to that.
So in order to cook my dish,
what you need to do
is get a chicken breast and butterfly it.
So, I'm gonna splay it and basically keep cutting
until it like, folds open.
To make sure that this tastes like Hot-Star,
I've gotta have a marinade that emulates what they use.
I'm creating that with Chinese five-spice,
some sugar, salt,
Shaoxing wine, soy sauce.
I'm adding in some water now, some garlic,
mixing that around,
and that will make the base for this marinade.
The chicken goes in that
and it needs to rest for 30 minutes.
Next up, is the coating.
Now, Hot-Star is known for a rough, crunchy, crispy coating.
So in order to do that,
I'm combining potato starch and tapioca starch.
I'm also adding in some MSG because,
hey, MSG adds in all the flavor,
it's gonna give it an umami burst,
and dredge the chicken in that.
So I'm putting that in a wok full of oil
and we're gonna cook it for about four minutes.
Take that out when it's done,
and then it's time to make the last few components.
So I'm adding a spice seasoning, which goes on top.
That's got paprika powder, garlic powder,
chili powder and a little bit of salt.
So I'm gonna put that on top of the chicken
and there we go.
So I'm making a barbecue plum sauce.
So I'm using two components,
Stubb's barbecue sauce,
one of my all-time favorite sauces,
I put it with everything,
and then I'm using plum jam.
To plate up,
I'm going to add a drizzle of kewpie mayo
and then I've got that sauce there,
and to finish,
I'm garnishing that with some spring onions.
So there we have it.
That's my copycat Hot-Star,
Taiwanese Fried Chicken.
I feel like I've nailed it.
I know that it tastes exactly the same
as the one you can get in the restaurant.
So, yeah. Take note people.
- Yes.
- It's massive.
- It's wider than my face.
- [Will] It's like a size seven sort of, shoe size.
- It sounds crispy. It's crispy!
Ha! Yeah, come on.
- [Will] It looks delicious, it looks creamy.
- And I love mayonnaise.
- But then there's this sauce here,
that is very sticky and looks quite sweet, which,
oh, wow.
That sauce is really good.
It's like smokey, barbecue.
- Try the dipping sauce.
- Mm. - Mm hmm.
- Definitely share this with two,
maybe three other people.
- I'm tasting like,
some really good like, star anise flavors,
so I'm thinking there'd be like Chinese five-spice in it.
The chicken is so tender.
- Not the biggest breast meat fan,
but I actually really like this.
It's quite juicy all the way through,
and I think partially it's because it's really thin.
And so, it cooks really quickly
so it doesn't tend to overcook and dry out.
- I would say, a bit more color,
like more sort of, golden brown.
There's a bit more room to make it even more crispier
so when you bite into it,
you can hear the (imitates crunch) crunch.
- When you can see flavor,
I'm like, yeah, come on.
I'll be friends with you.
I'll eat you.
Mmm!
- The sauces for me are a standout.
The coating itself, I really like.
It's really lovely, so, an eight.
(bell dings)
- I would definitely give it an eight and a half outta 10.
- Delicious. Eight and a half.
(bell dings)
(air whooshing)
- So today I'm serving you Tamarind Battered Fried Chicken.
So we're gonna use chicken tenderloins for this one.
The inspiration for this particular fried chicken
is out of sinigang.
So sinigang is usually a broth sort of soup,
but today we're gonna incorporate
the sinigang sort of component into the fried chicken,
so it's got that sourish coating batter.
Bring 1 1/2 liters of water to boil
and then add your chicken tenderloin pieces.
Boil for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Get your dry mix coating together
by mixing your rice flour,
cornstarch, garlic powder,
your onion powder and tamarind powder.
Mix it all together until all ingredients are combined.
For the batter,
one cup of flour,
1 1/2 cups of water,
five eggs,
give it a whisk,
make sure all the wet ingredients are properly combined.
Take your tenderloins that you boiled previously,
make sure you dip it into your dry coating mix,
dunk it into your tamarind batter
and then put it back into your dry coating mix.
Place your tenderloins into your deep fryer
to medium to high heat,
for about one to two minutes,
or until you get that golden brown color.
So for plating,
I have my pickled papaya on the side
to give it that sweet and acidity.
And you'll notice there's a dipping sauce,
and that's a mixture of coconut vinegar,
brown sugar, diced cucumber and diced red onions.
I've scattered some scallions on top.
Please enjoy! Have fun.
- This is pretty.
It comes in a basket.
A banana leaf, I feel so special.
- It looks really cool.
I'm a bit nervous because it does look like tenderloin
and I am breast averse.
- Not the kind of fried chicken I expected to see today.
Really thin and shallow crispy shell.
- I'm digging it already.
- I will do it unadorned and then do it-
- Mm.
- Adored. - Mmm.
Wow. Almost a little bit sour.
- But it tastes like it might be a bit rice flour based.
- It doesn't like, crunch as much,
it more breaks apart and disperses in your mouth.
And that means that it coats your tongue.
The more I eat this,
the more flavors are developing.
Pickle here.
Oh, yum. It tastes like jam.
It's really sweet and tangy.
- I think for me,
the beauty of this is the condiments that go with it
because then you get different textures,
you don't get bored.
- The chicken is a little bit dry,
just like a little bit.
But, when you add the sauce and this pickling stuff,
it makes it super duper.
- I think I'd score it a seven.
(bell dings)
I think I tend to prefer the juicier, darker meat.
- I am so stoked and I would order more.
I'm giving this a solid eight.
(bell dings)
I'm eating it while I'm giving it an eight.
So, I keep going up for more.
I'm giving it eight and a half. (bell dings)
- The one thing that doesn't work for me
is the crispy coating on the outside.
It's a little bit powdery
and I was just hoping it'd have some more crunch.
So for that reason,
I'm gonna give this one a six outta 10.
(bell dings)
(air whooshing)
- So today I'm doing a Fermented Red Bean Curd Chicken.
It sounds really funky, it's not.
It's just using fermented bean curds,
in a marinade,
which is traditionally with pork ribs,
but today I'm doing it with chicken
because I just love chicken wings.
So we're gonna start off with nam yu,
a red fermented bean curd.
And then we're gonna add another one
with a bit of rose flavor.
And then five-spice,
sugar, white pepper,
garlic powder, onion powder, a pinch of baking soda,
some soy sauce and some Shaoxing wine.
Mix it all together and just put your wings in.
Give it a good mix, let it sit.
Put that in the fridge for four hours
or maybe even overnight.
So when you're ready to fry,
get your wings out and mix in some corn starch.
This will help the batter cling.
Heat the oil until it's lightly shimmering,
roughly about 180 to 200 degrees.
Fry your chicken wings
until golden brown and delicious on the outside
and cooked through the middle.
Plate it up,
I started with a bit of green lettuce,
then to finish off, some sliced green onions.
And there you go!
Fermented Red Bean Curd Chicken Wings.
Hope you like it!
- Bam chicken, wow, wow. Yum.
- Very aromatic.
- Wings. These look bomb.
- The chicken looks really cute.
- Look at that.
This is the color I love.
- [Ryan] These look so inviting,
something that you would share with friends.
- Yum!
- Oh, wow.
- Mmm.
- Oh my God, just tasting so many new flavors today.
This one's really delicious.
- There's definitely five spicy.
And maybe some red bean?
- The chicken is very moist.
It's just not very crispy or crunchy.
- Serving chicken wings is a smart choice,
because that chicken has so much juiciness to it.
It was really delicious.
Like, every bite, it had so much flavor.
- And the shallot adds a nice little additional touch
for a bit of zest and zing.
It's beautiful, really delicate flavors.
- Flavor, tick,
Crispness, tick.
- They really blew it out of the ballpark for 9 out of 10.
(bell dings)
- I'm gonna score it a 7 out of 10. (bell dings)
Really great flavors.
Guess I'm probably just wanting a little bit more crunch.
- Maybe a nice condiment,
sort of, dipping sauce on the side,
a bit of acidity.
Eight out of 10.
(bell dings)
- [Tom] Do you wanna try the lettuce or-
- No, they're too expensive.
(Tom laughs)
- So today I'm making Mamak Fried Chicken,
which is a type of Indian Malay chicken.
And I'm making a little bit more Malay
by adding shrimp paste.
It's gonna add heaps more umami flavors.
It's mwah!
And super crunchy.
It's the best fried chicken you'll ever have.
To make my Mamak Fried Chicken,
you're gonna need a blender.
Add ginger,
I've got a lemon grass stalk here cut into pieces,
three small shallots,
some garlic,
one kaffir lime leaf,
fish sauce, curry powder,
cumin, white pepper, salt.
I've got some brown sugar here.
Also gonna add some shrimp paste
and a can of coconut milk.
Now blend it until it's all a smooth consistency.
Now, today, I'm going to be using
chicken thigh and chicken drumsticks with the skin on,
because it's gonna give it a really good crispiness
and super juicy.
So I'm gonna add the marinade.
So I'm gonna put this in the fridge
for about an hour or two.
The longer you leave it, the better,
the more flavor.
We're getting ready now for frying.
So what you're going to need is some flour,
rice flour,
and some corn flour.
I'm also adding some curry powder,
white and black pepper,
cayenne pepper and lots of salt.
Now I'm gonna get my marinated chicken
and I'm gonna dunk it all in the flour
until it's really well coated.
I'm gonna put it into our hot oil.
I'm gonna let it cook for about 12 minutes,
depending how big your pieces of chicken are.
Once it's done, take it out
and let it drain on some paper towel,
on a tray and that's it.
I'm garnishing with kaffir lime leaf,
red onion and some cucumber.
Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. Yum!
- Holy mother of fried chicken,
it's a dinosaur on a plate.
(dinosaur roaring)
Ahh!
- Hot damn!
That's like half a kilo worth of goodness right here.
Look at that.
- This looks Southeast Asian,
for the reason that the cucumbers are your token greens.
That's how we roll.
(crispy skin crunching)
- Mmm. Oh, it got better.
(crispy skin crunching)
- Holy shit.
- Very crispy.
- Has the best crunch
that I have ever experienced in my life.
Hands down.
I'm really scared, now.
The competition just got so stiff.
- Malaysian, sort of, inspired like Mamak.
- Definitely a much thicker coating than the others,
way more robust.
And it's a little bit more in your face,
I am here, this is fried chicken.
Nobody would fight you if you said that.
- There's no oil in here.
The oil escaped
and this chef's done a really good job at like,
frying it to the right amount of time
to ensure that it stays on the chicken.
Like, this doesn't drop off.
- I'm loving the aroma.
It's very fragrant.
And it's so succulent.
My favorite.
Whoever did this, thank you, Chef.
Oh, wow, look at that.
Oh, I'm gonna go for the skin.
- This is where I feel like I could do with a pickle.
(Tammi laughs)
I'm like, I just need something to break it up a little bit
because if somebody has a really big personality
and they're just at you all the time!
Kinda go,
I just need a refresher in between.
Please. Thank you.
- A bit of sourness would really lift this off
to that extra next level.
I would give this chicken a score of 9 out of 10.
(bell dings)
- The coating was more flavorful in itself than the others.
It needed a condiment.
I'd probably give this one an eight.
(bell dings)
- The chef delivered fried chicken in a quintessential way.
Crispy, crunchy, spicy,
well seasoned, juicy and tender.
There's nothing wrong with this.
So this is a 10 outta 10.
(bell dings)
(air whooshing)
- [Tom] The winner of Chefs Try Each Other's Fried Chicken
(drum rolling)
is Jacob.
(bell dings)
(Jacob gasps)
- Come on! Mamak Fried Chicken for the win!
- Make Jacob's fried chicken.
Like, that was lit!