- We got Shin from DokoDemo with me here.
You're gonna teach me how to make takoyaki.
- I'll try.
- So what is takoyaki, Shin?
- To explain very simply, it's octopus balls.
- It's octopus balls.
So basically, just like a batter
with octopus in it, right?
- Yeah.
- And what makes a really good takoyaki?
- Very crispy outside and creamy inside.
- I've never made takoyaki at home
and I'm really excited, because this is my opportunity
to test which gadget makes the best takoyaki.
And you're gonna help me do that.
- Sure.
- We have three different gadgets here.
We have the regular pan that is $20.
And then the electric one is $30.
So it's very comparable.
This one actually does the flipping for you.
That one goes from $150 to $200.
Very cool, but I think we want
to test the two standard ones first.
Shin brought his special batter from his restaurant here.
You told me that the batter is difficult,
'cause that's the most important part, right?
- Yeah.
- So what is in your batter?
- In my batter, we use low gluten flour,
- Okay.
- eggs, milk, and a lot of dashi.
- What is dashi?
- Dashi is kind of like soy sauce.
- Like an umami broth? - Umami broth, yeah.
- Got it.
- And if it's too difficult to make at home,
you can buy
this.
- Everything is in here.
All you have to do is mix this with water and egg.
- How do you feel about that?
Do you think it's gonna have similar results?
- Well, we'll see, yeah.
- Okay, so traditionally in a takoyaki,
what are the main ingredients?
- Some people prefer to use vegetables in their takoyaki.
But usually just butter, octopus, and tempura crisp.
- That's it?
- That's it, yeah.
- Very simple. - Very simple.
- [Esther] And the octopus the octopus is always precooked?
- Yeah.
- Yes? - Steamed.
- So Shin, what is the history of takoyaki?
Obviously, it's a classic Japanese street food.
- Yeah, it started about 80 years ago.
The beginning was it's called "radioyaki."
- [Esther] Radioyaki? - Yeah.
- The main ingredient was beef.
- Really?
It used to be beef?
- It used to be beef.
Ever since they started using octopus, in the balls,
then they start calling takoyaki.
- [Esther] What goes in first?
- [Shin] Grease it up, the pan.
- We usually use tempura crisp.
- First?
- First. - It goes in first, okay.
- [Esther] What is the tempura crisp do to the takoyaki?
- [Shin] It makes it crispier.
- I do like it when it's super crispy.
- Crispy? - Yeah.
- [Esther] And then we're using a mixture of cabbage and?
- [Shin] Cabbage, scallion, red ginger,
- [Esther] Okay
- [Shin] and we put some lotus root
- [Esther] Lotus root?
- [Shin] to make it very crunchy.
- Okay, like that vegetable crunch.
Then the batter that you just pour in.
And then one octopus in each? - In each, yeah.
- [Shin] In each ball.
- So how do you know when it's ready to turn?
Because if you turn it too early,
your ball gets all weird shaped, right?
- This is almost ready, because like--
- How do you know that?
- Do you see the batter right here?
- Uh huh
- It's turning into brown color
- Yeah, yep.
Oh okay
So, as soon as it starts turning, then you can just turn.
- [Shin] Yeah, then you can just turn it.
You can use two-- - Can I try it?
- [Shin] Sure, yeah.
- I just may be bad at this.
- [Shin] Nah, you're good. You're good.
- [Esther] Yo, some people you see
on the street, they're like (whooshing noises)
- Yeah, they are good.
- Here, maybe you should do it.
- [Esther] What do you think so far about the pan?
- [Shin] So far so good.
- [Esther] So far so good? Not bad?
- [Shin] It's very smooth, yeah.
- So is the goal to make a really perfect circle?
- Yeah, the better you are,
the more circle your takoyaki becomes.
- So when you're a master,
then your balls are like perfectly circle.
- Perfect circle, yeah.
And same size too.
- These are like pretty, pretty on point.
This pan is not bad.
- Not bad at all.
It cooks very fast too.
- I felt that this pan was gonna be an issue with
the even heating, but actually
its pretty even all around.
- Maybe we can use oil on half of it?
- Yeah let's try it.
- Do you do oil at the restaurant?
- We do, we do.
To make it really crispy.
- [Esther] Oh, I like it with the oil.
I can feel it's like
- [Shin] Crispiness?
- [Esther] Crispy, yeah.
All right!
I think that's pretty successful.
- [Shin] You want to try to sauce in it?
- The sauce is the best part.
Amazing.
- [Shin] It's done.
- [Esther] Dude, I'd be happy with this.
So, Chef, should we taste this?
- Yeah, go ahead.
It's really hot inside, so be careful.
- Mmm!
It's really crispy!
That's really good!
What do you think about this?
- It's very easy to use.
I'm surprised.
- Would you buy this for your house?
- I would, yeah.
It might be easier than what we use at the restaurant, yeah.
- Really?
- It's very easy.
- Wow!
Why are you so impressed with this?
- It's very smooth.
The batter usually sticks at the beginning,
but this one
doesn't stick at all.
- No stick at all?
But maybe after using it like 50 times--
- Then it might, yeah.
- I guess a nonstick element is very important.
- Very important for takoyaki.
- Obviously, this one you do need a burner.
And you do need gas for this, but if you don't have gas,
you could plug always it in with this one.
- Sure.
- [Esther] But that's only if this actually works well.
Right?
'Cause this, obviously, only has one setting,
so we don't know how hot or how
not hot it is.
So let's try it.
- [Shin] Sure.
- [Esther] These holes are a lot smaller.
Do you have an opinion about the different sized holes?
- Smaller?
Obviously cooks faster.
So if you have many guests, smaller hole might be better.
- Okay, you can definitely tell that the heat is not hot.
- Not hot. Yeah yeah.
- So it's very slow right now.
Yeah, there's not much action happening;
you don't hear it.
Like that one, you like immediate sizzle.
- [Shin] This is, it's so small.
It's little bit harder to flip, compared to the other one.
- [Esther] Ahh.
- [Shin] Temperature is a lot lower.
You do kind of want higher temperature to cook the batter.
- Is it because it stays creamy inside, and not overcooked?
- Right.
- It's not terrible, but it's just like--
This costs more than this.
So might as well just buy the $20 pan,
and it works a lot better.
- [Shin] And faster.
- [Esther] And faster.
Do you want to try one with me?
- Lacking something...
- It's lacking!
Like majorly lacking.
It's crazy:
same ingredients, different gadget,
completely different product.
I think we tested this enough, and we love the pan.
This one was a little weak.
But I'm really, really, really excited for this
like really crazy gadget that flips the balls for us.
- Automatically.
- Automatic.
And that's what the future is, automatic.
So we'll see how futuristic this is.
- [Shin] Sure.
- I mean, think about it though.
If your shops had an automatic takoyaki maker,
and it made them perfectly every time,
what do you think?
- I can fire all my employees, right?
- Ha! See, exactly.
Okay, Shin!
I know you want to hate on this,
because it's ridiculous, but it's also freaking awesome.
If it works, if it works.
So from what we learned, we need it to be high heat.
- [Shin] High heat.
- So this one has a dial.
- [Shin] One to seven.
- [Esther] One to seven, what do you want?
Seven?
- [Shin] Yeah, let's go with seven.
- Yeah, and Shin, you said that
the better you are at making takoyaki,
you can go as high heat as you--
- Right.
- [Esther] So for me, I'll probably have
to do it at like a five.
- Maybe three.
- Maybe.
(Shin laughing)
All right!
Okay!
You know what?
I also notice that these are a lot deeper too
And than there's like a little mark
where you pour the batter into, like a level.
So this one you mixed a little bit
of chili flake to make it spicy.
And obviously, there's different variations of takoyaki.
So this one's just a spicy batter.
Obviously, when you're filling your batter, it's not moving.
So basically, you turn the thing on
when you're ready to flip.
- I don't think it's gonna work like--
- You don't think it's--
He doesn't think it's gonna work!
- It's kinda stuck on the surface.
- Okay, can we turn on the automatic thing?
- Yeah, it's right here.
- Yeah let's do it.
- [Shin] All right.
It's working.
- Dude!
It's working!
But it's kinda not in a circle.
- [Shin] I think it's gonna go again, and make it circle.
This ones going, yeah.
- [Esther] This is a little sad.
Oh my God, I wanted it to work.
I think eventually
- Maybe, you should just manually
help these guys out.
- Aw, he wants to help it,
so then what's the point of it being automatic, right?
I think the point is that it does eventually start flipping.
He's enjoying this.
He is loving this.
- [Shin] It's fun to watch it.
- [Esther] But some of them are very perfect.
- [Shin] Some of them, yeah, very round too.
It's a perfect shape. - Right?
- [Esther] Yeah, I think so.
I guess the problem is, when the lever hits the soft part,
it won't flip.
And you have to kinda help it,
and then it'll start flipping,
but you can tell,
even the ones that were originally flipping,
it stopped when hits the soft end.
What do you think, Shin?
- I mean temperature-wise, it's a good temperature.
- Would you replace this with your humans
at your restaurant?
- Um, maybe not.
- But the shape is pretty round.
- Right?
It's actually quite beautiful,
like how it turned out.
- Yeah
- Yeah, I think it works very well,
but you do have to do a little bit of babysitting.
Someone still has to watch it.
You can't just leave it and walk away, right?
- Like, too noisy.
- Too noisy!
It's annoying.
But, all I care about is our octopus balls,
and I think they turned out quite good.
What do you think?
- Yeah, it's perfect shape.
- But this is at a lot higher price point at $150.
- Out of three.
- Mm hmm, out of the three, which would it be?
- Definitely go with the first one.
- The first takoyaki pan at 20 dollars,
which is the most affordable, is the one that works
- I go with
- The best.
What do you think is number two?
- ...number two?
Uh, I might go with this one.
- With this one? Really?
This one was the one you like, laughed at.
- But still gives a good temperature.
- It's great but it will never replace
the human cook, right? - The human?
Shin from DokoDemo, thank you so much for joining us.
- Your very welcome. It was fun.
- Today's video was brought to you by our sponsor,
American Express, with the "Pay It Plan It" feature,
giving you choices for how to make payments big or small.