- We are back in the test kitchen.
I have a special guest with me today.
You might have seen him in one of our previous videos
a Michelin Star Chef, Chef Kono, a.k.a. ATS.
We are testing yakitori gadgets.
Yakitori is basically a skewer with chicken parts.
- Yeah, we use so many parts
like breast, and thigh, also skin, and neck,
and organs, like liver, heart,
so all the different parts for the skewers.
- We are using a traditional--
- Yakitori grill.
- Against this, we are testing two other gadgets,
this baby, tiny one which is very convenient.
And have you seen one of these before chef?
- First time, so exciting. (laughing)
- Right, right? I'm super excited for this one.
This one is the automatic,
so basically you plug it, skewer it,
and then you can walk away.
These are electric, so the flavor
is something that I'm very curious.
Is it really necessary to have the charcoal
or can you replace it with something like electric?
- Yeah. - And convenient?
- Yes, convenience.
- So we'll see. - We'll see.
- That's the test today.
Alright guys, the first step is obviously
to skewer your chicken.
- It's a chicken thigh, small bite pieces.
Actually the best part is called chicken oyster.
That's the joint muscle, this is separate.
- Oh so you separate those. (laughing)
- The best part. - Well that's the whole point
of yakitori, right?
You wanna separate all the parts of the chicken.
- Enjoy your different flavors and texture.
- You want them to be as even as possible.
- So between meat and fat.
- The fat is always kind of in between each layer.
- Also, no pressure, meat is relaxed.
- I don't know what I did wrong,
but his looks like very perfect
and mine looks kind of... (laughing)
You see the difference?
He's kind of flattened it out
and made sure that it was
really evenly skewered all throughout.
The difference between Michelin star
(laughing) and not-Michelin star.
Okay, I wanna try again.
- Wow, it looks nice.
Same size and same weight. - Yeah, they all have
to be the same size.
I'm a fast learner. (laughing)
- That's perfect. - Yes!
Alright, the most basic binchotan grill.
- Concrete outside and two windows, we can control airflow.
- You have some special charcoal here.
- Yes, it's called Kishu Binchotan.
It's a type of white oak.
- So it burns for a long time, from a special area in Japan.
- Yeah, very, very special. - Very, very, very special.
- And on the left, we'll just use
your regular charcoal that you can buy wherever.
- So before we cook, the salt.
Then if you need smoke a lot, you should tap a lot,
then smoke comes out. - Do you want it to be smoky?
- Yeah, of course. - Because you want the...
- And the taste. - Smoky flavor.
Yakitori is all about the smoky flavor,
which is why I'm concerned with the electric one
cause we're not gonna get... - Yeah, that's not good.
That's why charcoal with yakitori,
it's like, different.
- So we'll see. - Yeah.
- And how long are we cooking these for?
- One minute each, flip.
- And you keep doing that? - Flip them, yeah.
- Until-- - Until five, six minutes.
- What's the point of flipping them constantly?
- Super hot grill, nice coating, char,
then over like a minute flipping,
it's a nice balance.
This is juicy, so I don't want it missing.
Save umami flavors inside the meat.
If it's all missing, it feels like it's gonna be very dry.
Finish like a nice burn, a little bit outside.
- A little char. - It's gonna be after flavor
like char.
Always tap it, then smoke.
- Smells so good with the charcoal.
Oh and another point is, we shouldn't do this indoors.
- Oh yeah, indoors. - Don't do it indoors.
(laughing)
Always outdoor. - The windows, yes.
- This is charcoal.
Unless you have a really big restaurant-quality vent,
then it's fine. - Yeah, that's fine.
- So a little bit of soy sauce.
The finish with fresh pepper.
- Why black pepper at the end instead of before?
- A fresh black pepper is an accent.
- More aromatic. - Yeah.
- Can we do a yakitori cheers?
- [Both] Cheers!
It's so juicy, see!
- So good. - Wow!
How can something so simple like chicken thigh,
literally it's just chicken thigh, be so delicious?
It's in its best form.
Super juicy and that charcoal taste is unbelievable.
Now I'm really doubting those other electronic machines.
- Let's see. - Oh, man!
It's really hard to beat.
Next step, we've got your very basic
electronic yakitori grill. - Looks amazing!
- It's basically just a coil.
- Yeah, almost toaster. - Like a toaster. (chuckles)
Have you ever used one of these before?
- No, it's so exciting, you know? (laughing)
- (laughing) You're so excited.
I mean there is something nice
about the convenience of this.
It's really small, so you can just put it in your drawer.
- You don't have to burn the charcoal.
Just put it in. - And you can use this indoors
of course. - Yes. (laughing)
- How do we take a master yakitori chef
and combine it with a most basic yakitori grill, we'll see.
Is it about the chef, is it about the charcoal,
or is it about the technique?
- We'll find out. - We'll find out.
Do you want? - Give it a shot.
- Ooh, sounds good. - Yeah?
(Kono vocalizing grilling sound)
You know what, the biggest thing for me
is that you won't get that charcoal flavor.
That's the thing that I liked most
about the yakitori. - It's kind of like
one flavor seasoning.
Yeah, that's char flavor.
- You can't really control the heating.
I literally can put my hand right here
and keep it there for a while.
- It still looks-- - It looks like it's steaming.
Why does it matter if you don't have enough heat?
- High heat is coating outside.
- So it seals in the moisture. - Yes seal. Seal the moisture.
- But if it's low temperature, it's all gonna,
the juices are all just gonna - All missing, go down. Yeah.
You see the juicy soup, this?
- Oh, so that should be sealed into the chicken
- I don't want it missing, this soup.
Maybe we'll put it back.
- Put it. - Yeah, but it's working,
heating and skewered chicken.
- I mean it is working, right?
It works. - Yeah.
- Just not gonna be the best yakitori of your life.
Skewers are finally done.
It took three times as long as the other one, 15 minutes.
See, it just doesn't have the same aroma as the charcoal.
I'm gonna ignore that for a second
because we're testing for texture,
I guess like the juiciness,
and see how it differs from the grill.
- Hmm. Very, a little dry outside.
It's so different, no char flavor.
- But you know what, I must say it's still better
than just cooking a chicken thigh in the oven.
Well I think the technique of skewering
has still an effect on how it's cooked.
And the convenience of how little this is,
you can just literally bust this out
from under your bed in your dorm room
and start making yakitori. - Yup.
- This is the automated yakitori grill.
Skewer your meat, put it in the little thing,
and then walk away.
You don't have to do anything.
This machine can replace you.
- Yeah, I need it.
Yakitori robot.
- But you know what? You still need a human element
because you have to put it in,
and skewering the meat of course.
But you know what? Let's get into it, see how it works.
- Yeah, metal skewers, more easy heating inside.
- This is so fun. - Oh, interesting.
- So cute! - Yeah, beautiful interior.
(laughing)
- It's like a little merry-go-round inside.
(carnival sounds)
You know what, if this played music,
it would be worth that money.
What about the chicken kind of being like--
- The style. - The gravity is
making the chicken shape a little bit like...
Yeah, bumping into each other.
How about if you make your skewers skinny?
- It will still work but not taste juicy I think, yeah.
- Got it, got it, it will be too dry.
- Yeah, too dry, yeah.
- How about compared to the one before, this small one?
- I thinks that's better.
- Really, you think that's better?
- Yeah, a lot of drips, yeah, soup.
- A lot of dripping!
Quick, high temperature is probably ideal for yakitori.
These electronic machines, it's just not hot enough.
- Not hot, yeah. - One thing to note
is there's no smoke.
- No smoke. - No smoke at all.
This is done, 10 minutes.
I think the middle skewers cooked it
a little bit quicker than the other--
- Bumper skewer, yeah.
- But you see how pale that is?
- Hmm. - It doesn't--
- Looks like boiled chicken.
- Yeah, it doesn't look very appetizing.
- And no smoke. - Hmm no smell, chicken smell.
- You can finish that, yeah. - Finish with soy sauce.
Ah, hot! - Hot! (laughing)
- This is hot!
Hmm, it's a fresh chicken. - It's so boring.
Yeah it's like so ummm... (Kono laughing)
- Not boiled, not grilled. - Yeah,
not boiled, not grilled, like in between?
It does not have good texture.
It's not crispy, like I almost prefer the other one.
Right? - Yeah, that one's better.
- Yeah, that little small machine, that's like better.
- But it's good things like 10 skewers,
same time, it will finish.
- But it tastes bad. (laughing)
There's like nothing exciting about it
besides the fact that it looks cute.
It's fun to watch, entertaining.
- Not good, chef? - Not good.
- Have to do hard work. - Yeah, I think that the point
is you can't beat the human touch.
Right? - Yeah.
- And you know what, if you want to do yakitori at home,
you should do it the right way.
Just have fun with it. That's the whole point.
- It finishes, it should be delicious.
- Yeah, so I'm sure there is yakitori grills out there
that are electric, that may work.
In this case, the two that we had were not hot enough.
So chef, what I learned from you today.
Number one, you must cut and skewer the meat evenly.
Number two, high heat.
Number three, turn often.
- Yep, smoke flavor and temperature is very important.
- Number four, have a master chef next to you.
(laughing)
Thank you chef, so much. - Thank you so much.
- You can take this home with you.
- Oh thank you! I got it. (laughing)