I'm gonna try to take this whole thing
to the head right now it's like the size
of a Fiat but we believe in you yeah
yeah number four Oh deal
[Applause]
[Music]
oil batter fire since the dawn of time
almost every culture on earth has come
to understand this one universal rule of
cooking if you fry it they will come
but in Japan the love affair with fried
food borders on a national obsession to
truly understand the heart of fried food
and Japanese cooking it's best to begin
with the delicate centuries-old art of
tempura I'm heading to set to yokatta an
eight-seat tempura counter on the Lower
East Side of Manhattan where chef at
sushi Okada is using fresh seasonal
ingredients to build a fried food Oh
Mikasa that bridges flavors from the
east and the West
[Music]
kilowatt you dismiss my suspension Akuma
restaurants it - you put IV 330 know
what that so has made that cut if you
know what I don't know - it wasn't
thinking it's not the one on screen all
right not that one no same one thing I
did you know that
so today Julia checked out the mess
I'm a up buddy America they are gay
monopoly to touch them all junk food on
each guy a message down this video
Sauron gravity New Hope tempura totemo
dedicate to this
never mind stone as equality yes
Toluca anomaly Dustin ducky they contain
no quality of our night
oh you cut a channel team present in
importance because I feel a deep breath
nice night so hopefully not gotta gimme
more they arrived at nine okay kudos
then i okay i'm gonna like tonight they
want a Tamil what the musical flowers
name
I know temple at the Nemo you know we
don't contain any money go
yep a pimple a garage mousepad a karate
move yeah buddy swimming the starters
didn't it bother other people cutters
you go worry
[Music]
some of the parameters yes I am a little
high as far as who study think that
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
Imam Ossama Directorate happy that I am
also as your companies that I think but
I could actually was youthful this I
would industrial audacity
it just sounds a bit yeah
I wish she doesn't it so it's there but
they don't hide okay that's why you
didn't put up lights upon mine yes
hold on a loyalist I've never enjoyed a
white asparagus more in my life it was
so perfect and so soft inside rather
than frying the concept of tempura is
actually almost air frying within itself
and almost like steaming wall from which
gives it that really really specific
batter and texture and I just don't know
how he got rid of the stringiness of it
I'm amazed
[Music]
huh mother Morsi oh god Emily what do we
target mom eternal temple a sound but
most physicians know things you know
technique today so I'm gonna throw up
today absolutely not like you know that
Synod I know for school come to us today
to meet economist Tim Brown who Tony
hodge mitad yes
do you see these Gospels so I just had a
tempura-fried scallop for the first time
in my life and all the scallop I've been
eating previously have been alive it's
so unbelievably fresh and the way chef
prepared it where he incorporates
cooking it very quickly and calmly in
the oil to make sure that the inside is
still partially raw that kind of tartar
style I've never seen done in tempura
before so I'm absolutely mesmerised
right now and he told me it was straight
from Hokkaido so very spoiled kill home
Tony I'm sorry not even stuff REO
favelas demo Boise tempura
in Turkey awareness because what they
destroy sauce otherwise I must allow us
[Music]
temper may represent the lighter more
fine side of Japanese fried foods but
there's also a time in a place for a
Gracie bucket of fast food fried chicken
though it might come as a surprise to
customers in the u.s. Kentucky Fried
Chicken is incredibly popular throughout
Japan particularly around Christmastime
millions of Japanese families choose to
celebrate the holiday with the colonel
often reserved in KFC's red and white
buckets weeks in advance tradition of
eating KFC on Christmas begins in 1970
with a man named Takeshi Okada the
manager of Japan's very first Kentucky
Fried Chicken though the details are
murky legend has it that al-khawaja
overheard a foreign couple at the
restaurant complaining that they
couldn't get a roast turkey on Christmas
the conversation sparked something in
Okada and one night a vision of a party
barrel filled to the brim with fried
chicken came to him in a dream welcomed
on his location began offering fried
chicken as a substitute for Turkey
during the holidays and by Christmas
1974 KFC Japan had started offering the
popular party Baro promotion across the
country carissima Soneva Kentucky or
Kentucky for Christmas was officially
born today eating KFC at Christmas
remains a beloved tradition according to
the BBC more than 3 million people
celebrate Christmas with KFC in Japan
accounting for roughly one third of the
company's yearly sales in the country
what began as a clever marketing scheme
is now a hugely important part of
Japanese life come December
Walton burn KFC both hold a special
place in Japan's heart there is of
course a happy medium tonkatsu is a
crispy pork cutlet that's been covered
in panko breadcrumbs dunked in a deep
fryer and laid next to a mound of
shredded cabbage Tom kasia's can be
found in almost every neighborhood in
Japan but in New York katsuyama on West
55th Street is one of the only
restaurants that focuses specifically on
the dish to help me connect the dots
from tempura to tonkatsu
I'm meeting friend and restaurateur
Sakurai yagi for lunch joining us is TV
icon and Japanese food obsessive Adam
Richman who's always ready to dig into a
plate of fried food no matter what
country he finds himself in
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
Sakura Adam thank you so much for
joining me today we are at kata Hama to
enjoy some tonkatsu and since everyone
has a different dish I thought maybe we
could share you found that Kimo okay so
cut to throwing traditional katsu and
would you just you think close
katsu parm or what well that's just what
we started cold it's just tomato and
cheese they probably don't serve this in
Japan Japan loves cheese and tomato
sauce but from my experience like katsu
yeah like so tone cuts of shops in Japan
generally serve it like this where you
have your choice of what kind of pork
that you know whether it's like a loin
or a different part of me yeah exactly
and then they have an option like
chicken white meat dark meat I really I
couldn't feel more American right now
and that's like hey y'all got y'all got
y'all got garlic nuts
what's your opinion of it how's the
flavor yeah how does the parmesan cuts
you know what it's a fine tomato sauce
but if I if I want tonkatsu like I want
the cutlet I love the irregularity you
know panko has much better surface area
than finely ground Italian breadcrumbs
so you get a much more profound crunch
but it's lighter
exactly that's what that is
yeah just an automatic another how and
crunchy and crisp something is all right
that's how you would like absolutely
describe this is so suck suck yeah
suck suck yeah I'm trying my best here
folks I've just tread water what would
you say makes the perfect fried food not
greasy not greasy okay which is
interesting it's all greasy it's it's
made in oil or grease but it doesn't
mean it has to transfer on to the dish
look at this subtlety in serving the
fried food on the wire rack and having
that air around is allowing it to
actually be dry be crispy but it
actually makes contact if I may be
honest I mean I think that the Japanese
do fried food in my opinion better than
most and I think that it's because it's
about that sucker socket it's about the
mouthfeel and not about how thick the
batter is I still want to taste what's
underneath it and it's gotta be a type
of food that's going to retain its
crunch from first bite to last even when
you dip it in the sauce and I think
that's also the big thing too than in
Japan sauces are on this side not
drizzled on top not a squirt bottle it's
like delicate I appreciate that very
much
[Music]
can I try yours yes please said where's
the important it's supposed to be
cracked and just laid on top I'd say in
Japan we use a lot of raw eggs but in
the US like that's not really a thing
right it's a little bit more like kind
of scrambled and draped on more like a
half raw omelet type of thing I'm gonna
try to take this whole thing to the head
right now it's like the size of a Fiat
but we believe in you yeah yeah number
four Oh deal so Japanese uses a lot of
puns and we are very creative about our
terminology and phrasing but tonkatsu is
actually a lucky food that we eat
sometimes before we go either into
competition or before maybe we take a
test some Hilliard's exams yeah so cuts
it means to win so even though qotsa in
this case it's cuts limited as in a
shortened form of cutlet it also is a
pun for wanting to win so you usually
eat something like this uni katsu before
you go into something that you must win
it did you have any rituals of your own
before going into food competitions hell
yeah
so the least macho of all about doing
man vs. food was calling my mom but it's
funny how she would downshift from my
Jewish mom to like Nicki and rocky she
was like I'm used to the same thing she
goes be smart be safe be strong let him
know you come from you show the liberal
ins in the house
I have a question for you guys do you
guys have rituals before you eat
certainly eat a lucky moss oh yeah you
must before you receive a meal and then
other than that I guess
Oshie bode is kind of a part of it like
where you clean your hands with a hot
towel so that what is the actual
definition with questions of somebody a
stuff documents and gore so somehow go
hand in hand but Italica mas can mean to
the person who prepared it and I'm going
to consume this but also it has this
connotation of I'm going to thank the
cabbage for existing existing yeah or
I'm gonna take this pork eater vacuum us
all over and then go to so sama the term
Gorge saw is like a meal yeah and also
some other styles like just like thank
you for the meal it's poetry and that's
the thing that's so so fascinating to me
is that when you see people dedicating
so much time energy and effort into just
a breaded pork cutlet there's a
gratitude for the opportunity to eat
something so delicious
and gratitude for of the animal that
gave its life the chef that Gayle's his
or her work it's one of the things that
I will always love so much about
Japanese culture as it relates to food
is that there is a godliness there is a
soulful next to it that I find so
beautiful
well that was delicious I had an
incredible meal I hope you enjoyed yours
as well I'd enjoyed soccer as me not so
much for joining us both of you and also
I was just so delighted to speak
Japanese with you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
thank you so much for watching Gocha gig
I so appreciate it Sean should they like
and subscribe like and subscribe else
thank you