- Today's very special episode of "Botched"
is sponsored by "The Big Leap,"
a new, uplifting drama on Fox.
This show is about people from all walks of life
taking a second chance on themselves.
I took my own leap to start the Babish channel
and make it my full-time job,
and our partnership with "The Big Leap" is helping me
do the same for someone else, giving them
a second chance to pursue their culinary passions.
Don't miss the series premiere
on Monday, September 20th at 9/8 Central on Fox.
- [Brad] And I'm rolling.
Let's look. Am I rolling?
- Yes. - Does this?
It says Recording in red.
- [Kendall] Didn't you do that last time, though?
- [Brad] Tikka Masala, take one, kind of.
- Take negative one.
(clapperboard clacks) - Take.
- This week, very, very special episode,
because it's sponsored by "The Big Leap."
So we put a call out on social media
asking for you to contact us if you knew
somebody who needed a second chance
or who wanted to take a big leap in their lives.
We got over a thousand emails.
Some incredible stories.
Thank you so much for sharing them with us.
But one stood out in particular,
a young man named Will who lost his job during the pandemic
and wants to get into the culinary field,
but doesn't know how.
Well, we're here to help.
More on that later, because for now,
Will seems to think that I botched my chicken tikka masala,
and he had some really, actually, astute feedback
for how to make it better.
Coconut milk instead of heavy cream,
dark meat instead of white meat,
curry paste instead of a spice powder in the marinade.
All very interesting ideas, all ones I'm excited to try.
And try it we shall, because he's on his way here
tomorrow, or yesterday, depending on how Brad edits this.
(dramatic orchestral music)
(tense xylophone music)
(Andrew exhales sharply)
(Andrew inhales sharply through teeth)
So, people, Brad (beep) up.
He might say that he bungled it.
- [Brad] Botched.
- Botched? He botched it!
Here's the deal.
Yesterday, one of our cameras (beep) up.
Not gonna name names, but we do
have to redo our marination process.
So, depending on how Brad edits this,
we're either gonna pretend that this is the day before,
which I'm fully capable of doing,
or we're just gonna acknowledge the mistake
and make fun of him for it.
As he has asked! He wants me to make fun of him for it.
You're a big turd.
You're a big, tall, handsome turd.
- [Brad] Say more.
- You are- - Say more.
- A sexual demon.
- [Brad] More! - You are a danger
to yourself and those around you.
- [Brad] (laughs) Okay, you can stop.
- We're also besmirched, besieged, beguiled
by fruit flies in this house. - [Kendall] It's my fault,
I'm sorry. - Jesus Christ.
- I bred them.
- We got fruit flies everywhere.
We all (beep) up in the past 24 hours, except Jess.
(dramatic orchestral music)
- [Brad] Give me a second.
- What are you trying to do?
- [Brad] I'm just making sure
I've got SteadyShot on, making sure...
- You need SteadyShot with a monopod?
- [Brad] (laughs) Yeah.
(Andrew recoils)
- It's a good thing I haven't approved that raise yet.
(dramatic orchestral music)
- Now, the first thing we have to do
is marinate our chicken.
Now, Will uses a curry paste
instead of ground spices in his marinade.
Very curious to see what that's gonna do
for flavor, for color, for all kinds of stuff.
Let's whip 'em up, shall we?
Yes!
I was asking you, "Shall we?"
- Yes. - Okay, cool.
- It's over there.
- Oh, cool.
All right, so first big difference
between our two recipes is that Will likes
to use dark meat, thigh meat, dark meat,
no other words for it.
Dark meat, dark meat, dark meat, dark meat,
chicken thighs, dark meats, and chicken thighs.
I like breasts! I like breasts!
I'm very curious to see what the difference is gonna be.
I think these are gonna be a little bit
too rich for such a rich sauce.
But, you know, breasts are pretty boring.
They dry out real easily.
So let's just see what happens.
I'm gonna cut this up into one- to two-inch chugs,
bite-size chugs.
That way, it's easy to just chug it right down,
chug it on down.
So the primary marinade
(Andrew taps ramekin)
vehicle is yogurt.
Love yogurt marinades for two reasons.
Number one, does all the job of buttermilk.
Number two, it assists with browning.
That was cool.
Both of these marinades have a yogurt base,
so that's gonna give them wonderful color,
it's gonna give 'em great flavor,
it's gonna make 'em tender and moist and juicy creamy.
So I'm going to grate in about two inches of fresh ginger.
And when I'm grating, I have
a very hard time being entertaining.
- [Brad] What if you thought about something entertaining?
(bubbles pop)
(echoes) What if you thought about something entertaining?
(Brad gives startled yell)
(Andrew shudders)
- I'm also gonna add some salt,
'cause this is a marinade, for God's sake.
You need salt.
I'm gonna add some pepper, because
this is a marinade, for God's sake.
You need pepper.
Primary difference between our marinades,
I use a freshly ground spice powder, toasted and ground,
and Will uses a curry paste in the marinade.
He says that this creates a deeper flavor.
I think it kind of looks like baby (bleep).
That's not baby (bleep).
(plastic container clatters)
(glass bowls clatter)
Now I'm just gonna massage them together.
So let the young children leave the room,
because it's time to get squishy.
Mmm.
Oh no, I guess some chicken marinade on my-
- [Jess] Ooh, not my chicken!
(Andrew laughs)
(Andrew sighs)
- [Jess] I just saved your life.
- Sweetie, this chicken was just bought today by Kendall.
I trust her implicitly. She wouldn't poison me.
- I poisoned Sawyer not that long ago.
So...
- These guys are gonna marinate overnight.
Will's headed here tomorrow.
He thinks that his girlfriend bought him
some cooking class for his birthday,
but he's actually coming to my basement.
(dramatic orchestral music)
So now, as you can see,
(pot clangs)
identical pots, for science,
a little squirt of oil, glug, glug,
and then we're gonna saute our aromatics,
add our spices, and then (beep) in curry.
Anyway, onions.
(onions sizzle)
Whoo, look how talented I am, Brad!
Look at how talented I am! I can toss two at once.
I'm so talented, handsome,
(pots clank) single.
Just kidding!
(metal clatters) Oh, God!
(dramatic orchestral music)
All right, so we're sweating the onions.
I'm more searing than sweating right now.
Except me, I'm sweating. I'm not searing, I'm sweating.
Now that these are nice and sauteed, I'm going to add
(Andrew clanks bowls against pots)
a couple cloves of crushed garlic.
Everybody hold your noses, 'cause I got
the bird's eye chilies headed inward.
(Andrew coughs)
Yeah, that'll do it.
(Andrew bangs spoon against pot)
That's aerosolizing.
Also going to add the spices,
give them a little toasty-toast.
We're also going to add the tomato paste.
(Andrew grunts)
Get the spices nice and toasted,
even though we already toasted them, right, Kendall?
- [Kendall] Yeah, uh-huh, I did!
I did. I did!
It's not like I was lying. I did!
(Jess coughs)
- Yeah, no, it's the capsaicin is aerosolizing
and we're all being pepper-sprayed.
(Kendall coughs)
(Andrew coughs)
Okay.
The ginger I'm gonna have to grate very quickly,
'cause these are starting to get pretty hot.
Grate, grate, grate, grate, grate, grate, grate.
Come on, Jess, I need your help.
- [Jess] Grate, grate, grate, grate,
grate, grate, grate, grate, grate, grate, grate, grate.
Grate! (laughs)
Grate it!
- Okay, that's enough.
(coughing) Oh, Jesus Christ!
I can feel it in my lungs.
Anyway, we're making curry.
(pot clatters)
(coughing) Jesus Christ!
Oh!
(pot clatters)
(coughs) Oh, (beep).
That should- (coughing)
Oh God, that is brutal.
Okay.
(Jess coughs)
We'll get this guy up to the simmer.
Do I have-
(coughs) (beep).
Here's the sugar.
Okay, and the only difference between my sauce
and his is that he uses coconut milk
and I use a heavy cream.
Everybody's dying right now. (laughs)
Look at Kendall. Look at her!
She's rubbing her eyes!
(Andrew laughs)
You just chopped peppers!
- I did not wash my hands.
(everyone laughs)
I only touched the lids, it's fine.
- Our new (sniffles) recipe will reflect
that you're not gonna saute that pepper.
You're gonna add it after adding the tomatoes.
That way, it can simmer and not attack
your eyes, ears, nose, and throat.
(Andrew burps)
(everyone laughs)
(dramatic orchestral music)
Oh, (beep).
(chicken sizzles)
- [Jess] You're fine.
- [Andrew] This episode's going well.
(Andrew sniffles and sighs)
It's probably fine.
- [Brad] This is probably my fault, too.
- I'm screwing up right now, okay?
Don't monopolize the screwing up. I screwed up.
All right. Well, maybe it looks less burned from this side?
Yeah. (laughs)
So we have some really nicely browned chickens,
beautifully browned.
I'm just gonna flip it right over there.
Look at that. It's perfectly browned.
Nice and, oh, God.
Actually, honestly, his chicken
is gonna be fine, because it's dark meat.
Mine is gonna be dry, because it's white meat.
Do the math.
Our tomatoes are up to a simmer.
So now I'm gonna add the chicken.
Did you say liquids after the chicken?
Kendall? You okay?
- I'm wearing mascara.
(Jess laughs)
- [Andrew] Guys, this one is coming apart.
- Brad's face right now looks like it's not okay.
- [Jess] Well, Brad doesn't know anything.
(Andrew screams)
(dramatic orchestral music)
- So far, these sauces have been made virtually identically.
You might say actually identically.
But now, the big difference is that Will uses coconut milk,
where I use heavy cream, like a chump.
So let's see what kind of difference that makes.
So now we have our broiled chicken
that I'm going to add to the sauce.
Dark meat to the coconut sauce,
and now white meat into the heavy cream sauce.
I think this needs a little bit more coconut milk,
'cause it's just not the right color for tikka masala,
so I'm gonna add some more coconut milk.
That's a lot of coconut milk, but I'm just trying
to get it kinda close to the color
that I'm used to seeing with chicken tikka masala.
I'm gonna stop there.
(clears throat)
All right, I'm gonna give these a preliminary taste.
So I'm gonna start with mine,
'cause it's the flavor I'm familiar with.
I'm gonna try it.
It's good.
It's still a little bright, needs to simmer
a little bit longer.
We'll see how the coconut milk version is.
Mmm!
That's a good move.
The sauces still taste a little bright and a little acidic,
so I'm gonna let them simmer for a little bit.
But this is very interesting.
I really like the coconut milk in there,
and I think that his chicken thighs are gonna stand up
to the torture I just put 'em through way better.
So we'll be right back.
(dramatic orchestral music)
- [Jess] Okay, he has to get out of the car.
They're already here. - Oh, (beep).
- [Andrew] Okay.
(Will's girlfriend murmurs)
(doorbell chimes)
- [Brad] All right, ready?
Hello, are you here for the cooking class?
- [Will's Girlfriend] Yes.
- [Brad] All right, come right in. The door is unlocked.
- [Will's Girlfriend] Thanks!
- [Will] Thank you.
Okay.
- [Jess] Hey guys, how are you?
- Hey! How's it going?
- [Jess] Good!
Thanks for coming in! - Of course.
- Hey guys, how you doing?
- [Will] Huh?
- Welcome (laughs) to the house.
(everyone laughs)
- Guys, shut the (bleep) up.
(everyone laughs)
- Dude, what the (beep)? You put this together?
- No, well, they responded to me beforehand.
- Dude, I'm-
(others laugh)
Right now, 'cause I'm a serious fan of this.
(everyone laughs)
- [Kendall] That's okay.
- Well, come on in, make yourselves comfortable.
- [Will] Oh, yeah!
- This is not a cooking class, I'm sorry to say.
So we brought you here today because you sent us an email
and you mentioned that my chicken tikka masala
might need some improvement.
So I made your recipe with coconut milk,
dark meat, and with a curry paste in the marinade, right?
That's your recipe? - Yeah, mm-hm.
- And I made my recipe.
Have you ever watched the new show "Botched"?
- Oh, yeah, I have. (laughs)
- Well, that's what this is,
because we think that you had some various new feedback,
so we wanted to, you know, see if we can
unbotch this thing with your help.
- Okay.
- That sound good? - Sounds good!
- All right, so here's yours. Here's mine.
It's kinda weird that it's on the opposite side of us.
But you guys get the idea,
right? - Yeah!
- Yours made with curry paste instead of the spice powder.
What do you think that's bringing to the table,
the paste over the spice mix?
- So I usually do a curry paste because I feel like
it develops the flavors a little bit more.
I feel like it'll actually penetrate
the actual meat a little bit more.
- [Andrew] Do you enjoy cooking?
- Never cooked before in my life.
(everyone laughs)
- Well, this just got weird.
So here we have our two tikka masalas.
Let's dig in. Let's see what we think.
I've been very excited to try this with dark meat.
Mmm!
(utensils clank on plate)
I actually really like that.
But I way overcooked it, which is perfect for the dark meat,
'cause it got really nice and tender and juicy.
- Mm-hm.
- All right, now, let's switch sides.
- Okay.
(women laugh) I'll take my fork with me.
- Yeah, no, that makes sense.
This did dry out some at that point.
- [Will] Yeah, but I do like the sauce on that
a lot better than the sauce on this one.
- I don't know, man.
I definitely added a lot of coconut milk
to try and get the color out,
and I think I made it too thin,
but I really like the flavor of the coconut milk.
Maybe if we did half and half.
Here we go! This is what we're talking about.
Thanks, man.
All right, so this, is this what you meant?
(everyone laughs)
- That's all or nothing. - No, I mean, I don't know.
There we go! - Voila!
- Dinner is served, folks.
All right.
Mix this up, and is this something,
maybe we'll learn something?
I don't know. (laughs)
Have we learned anything today?
- [Brad] Make sure the camera is recording.
- Oh, shut up, Brad!
(everyone laughs)
All right, let's try this.
The hybrid of the two methods, kind of.
(everyone laughs)
Mmm!
- Mmm. That's good.
- That's good.
- Yeah. - Hmm, okay.
(everyone laughs)
I think we've figured it out. I don't know.
- Yeah, somewhat, yeah.
(Andrew laughs)
- It sure tastes good, so I'm happy with it.
- Exactly. - Yeah.
Thank you so much for coming by and doing this with me, man.
I really appreciate it.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Thanks for (laughing) bringing me to your place.
- I heard some unfortunate news.
I heard that you lost your job during the pandemic.
- I did.
- And what line of work were you in?
- I was in real estate.
- Real estate?
- Yeah, so this past year, when real estate
pretty much (clicks tongue) cut to a halt
in New York City, they were doing downsizing
at my job, and then I unfortunately got cut.
- Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that.
Did you enjoy that line of work, or...
- So I didn't really feel too fulfilled
in that line of work.
I just kinda fell into it after college.
In the pandemic, I kind of decided,
or I kinda found out what really motivates me,
and I think that's cooking, and something
I've really been passionate about.
- I mean, do you want, are you trying to get
a career in cooking, or where's that going?
- Ideally, but, you know, it's a little tough
to transition to it.
- It's a really hazy thing.
I've been there before and I made a huge career change.
I mean, I had to take a big leap
to start doing this as my full-time job,
and it's really scary, and it's very uncertain,
and I know that it can be really hard to get started.
So we not only wanted to try your method
for chicken tikka masala, we also wanted
to try and help your culinary career.
So we want to get that started
by giving you a set of cookware.
- Okay!
- And congratulations.
Also, we want to give you a grant of $25,000
to go to culinary school, to act as seed money
for whatever business you want to open up,
to further your culinary career.
- Dude! Wait, (laughing) hold on.
Can I give you a hug?
I'll give you a hug. - Yeah, man.
(Will slaps Andrew on back)
(Will laughs)
Oh my God, dude, that's literally gonna...
Because I've been thinking about this for so long,
but like you said, it's hard to take that leap
and really bet on yourself, and especially
when I've been applying to jobs
and getting rejected at jobs and, you know,
it really takes a toll on your self esteem.
So it's, I'm gonna cry, it's really nice to know
that you guys believe in me,
at least somewhat, (laughs) yeah.
- Since we filmed this episode, Will has decided
to use his grant to attend culinary school,
and he'll continue to have our support
when the time comes to find a job
on his dream career path.
Will is an amazing, talented guy
who has been affected, as we all have, by the pandemic,
and it's thrilling to be able to help give him
a second chance at pursuing his passions.
Taking a leap in life can be frightening,
difficult, and risky, but sometimes it's the only way
to become who you've always wanted to be.
And as we get started on a new season
of "Being with Babish," we want to hear
and share your stories, so please share them with us
at beingwithbabish@gmail.com.
Well, thank you so much, man.
I really appreciate you coming by.
- I appreciate everything.
This is, dude, I still think I'm
(laughing) dreaming right now.
- [Andrew] Thank you again to Fox and "The Big Leap"
for sponsoring today's episode
and making this surprise possible.
We here at the BCU believe in taking chances
and chasing your dreams, which is what you can
expect from "The Big Leap."
It's all about a group of underdogs who enter
a reality dance competition TV show that gives them
the second chance they need to turn their lives around.
You can catch the series premiere of "The Big Leap"
on Monday, September 20th at 9/8 Central on Fox.
(pensive piano music)