- [Andrew] Today's episode is sponsored by Genshin Impact.
Genshin Impact is an open world action game
where you can explore the fantasy world of Teyvat,
fighting bosses, completing quests, and collecting rewards.
With latest update, you can unlock even more characters,
bosses, and islands to explore.
Most importantly, the game is chock full of recipes
that your character can whip up.
True to form, I picked my favorite Genshin Impact character
based on his signature dish, so today we're gonna be making
Razor's puppy paw hash brown.
To start, I've got five large Yukon Gold potatoes,
not usually the potato of choice for hash browns,
but I thought it'd be fun to try.
I'm peeling and chopping them into half-inch cubes
for even cooking and bringing them on over to the stovetop,
where instead of boiling them, I'm going to par-fry them
at an unusually low temperature,
about 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
We want to fry them until they're just
starting to turn blonde.
This is gonna take about five minutes.
Then we're spreading them out on paper towels
and allowing them to drain and cool completely
before we transform them into puppy paws.
About 30 minutes later, these guys are nice and cool,
so I'm gonna start ricing them into a large bowl.
Potato ricers are great for making super smooth
and creamy mashed potatoes.
So too shall be the interiors of our puppy paws.
Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, just like me.
Once all the potatoes have been riced,
now it's time to add some other stuff.
Three tablespoons of all purpose flour for structure,
one large egg for structure, one clove of grated garlic,
which, since it absolutely annihilates the garlic's
cellular structure, will maximize its garlicky flavor.
And then to make this dish in the game,
you need to use some rather unusual ingredients,
one of which is a pair of pine cones,
which is where pine nuts come from, so I'm gonna assume
that that's why you use it in this recipe.
I got about a half cup of pine nuts here
that I'm lightly processing and adding to our potatoes,
along with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper,
and of course, my gloved fingies,
mixing things together by hand until smooth and homogenous.
And now it's time to form these guys into little puppy paws,
using these little puppy paw molds.
They're a little bit smaller than what you see in the game,
but I think any bigger than this and we're talking dog paws,
not puppy paws.
Once you got these guys filled up,
they're headed into the freezer for an hour to firm up.
Now another ingredient required to make this recipe
in the game is a red jam, so I think our best option here
is to make a tomato jam.
I got six large Roma tomatoes that I'm gonna cut
into one-inch pieces and dump into a large saucepan,
along with a half cup of sugar,
and then to offset the sugar, the juice of one lemon.
Then we got a half teaspoon of red pepper flake,
a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar,
and an inch or two of freshly grated ginger.
Then, for both a wonderful flavor and a hint of texture,
I'm adding a teaspoon of whole cumin seed.
Then we got to bring this guy to a simmer and let him cook
for anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes,
until a thick jammy jam-like texture is achieved.
Go ahead and let this cool while we make
our second dipping sauce, what looked to me like an aioli.
So we got three cloves of fresh garlic,
a little pinch of kosher salt, that I'm gonna mash together
until it's nice and good and mashed.
Then I've got one egg yolk that I'ma add in there
and mash until homogenous, and once it's nice and smooth,
it's time to start adding the oil,
about three quarters of a cup of neutral flavored oil,
like vegetable or canola, making this more of a mayonnaise
than an aioli, but I think that olive oil
is gonna be too spicy and overwhelming.
Plus, I want this to be a pretty stark white,
the way that it looks in the game.
Then our final accoutrement is, I think,
some gestural steamed broccoli.
I say gestural because we're eating twice fried
potatoes here, we need a little bit of roughage.
So while that thoughtful side is steaming up
for about five minutes,
it's time to release and fry our puppy paws.
Carefully press them out of the silicone molds.
If you let them freeze overnight,
there'll be really solid and come out easily.
And then they're ready to jump in a much hotter hot tub,
canola or vegetable oil, heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit,
where they're gonna fry for three to five minutes
until deeply golden brown and crisp.
Let 'em drain on paper towels,
and then it's time to plate up.
It looks like the puppy paws in the game were served
on some kind of napkin.
Closest thing I could find as a wooden cutting board, sorry.
And while there's only two puppy paws visible in the game,
mine are rather a whole lot smaller,
so I'm just gonna stack a whole bunch on there.
Get 'em nice and centered for their close-up.
Oh, mustn't forget the aioli.
Eating these twice-fried hash browns without mayonnaise
would be insane, if you ask me.
So go ahead and pile it high, clean up any dribbles
on the cutting board and there you have it, folks,
Razor's specialty, puppy paw hash browns.
A fitting choice, since my man's birthday is coming up
on September 9th.
He's a fellow Virgo, I'm on September 2nd.
And these guys might be awfully cute, but how do they taste?
Let me go ahead and load it up with tomato jam and aioli
before I take my first bite,
and I'm proud to say that the results are wonderful.
These hash browns have a glassy crisp exterior
and a creamy mashed potato-like interior.
The aioli is rich and the tomatoes are sharp and sweet.
The broccoli, unfortunately, is still broccoli,
but I do appreciate the gesture.
But the puppy paws are a hell of a signature dish.
So thank you very much to Razor, and happy birthday.
And, of course, thank you again to Genshin Impact
for sponsoring this episode.
Genshin Impact is available to play on PC, mobile,
and PlayStation 4 and 5, and co-op play is available
for up to four players,
so you can amp up the elemental action.
You can also kick back and relax
as you explore the expansive world
set to a delightfully soothing soundtrack.
You can now play as two new characters,
Raiden Shogun and Kujou Sara, plus their new bosses
and Inazuma Islands to explore.
Check it out at the link in the description.