Rich Brian Tries to Keep Up with a Professional Chef

Holy (bleep! Gently!

Whoa, whoa! Did it splatter?

A little bit.

Okay, you okay?

I'm good, thank you.

Hey guys, it's Carla, I'm here in the Bon Appetit

Test Kitchen today with rapper Rich Brian.

Rich Brian.

And today, we are going to make together, chicken parm!

Amazing! And we're gonna see

if Rich Brian can follow along with me

through verbal instructions only.

So like, do you cook at home?

I love cooking at home,

it's like the most relaxing thing to me.

I love the whole process Really?

If it's like goin' to the grocery store,

just like everything.

Okay, so now on the count of three

we're just gonna turn around

Okay We have the same setup.

All right And then we're just

gonna start cooking! Okay!

Okay ready? All right yeah!

All right, three, two, one!

All right Yay!

So So, first thing

you may notice the raw chicken.

Uh-huh But just disregard

that for now, we're gonna set up our breading.

Breading So, you've got

a pan of bread crumbs, eggs, and flour--

Okay.

So just get the fork out of the pan with the eggs.

Okay And just crack those

three eggs into the pie plate.

[Rich] Cool

Are you familiar with the

three step breading-- Cracking of the eggs?

Oh yeah cracking [laughs]

Are you familiar with cracking eggs?

I'm sort of familiar with that, yeah.

Little bit.

Cool, do you have a method for cracking eggs?

Some people do.

No, I've tried multiple times to crack eggs

with one hand Uh-huh

But I'm really bad at it.

All right so I cracked the eggs--

You got your eggs.

Okay so now there's a bowl of salt

and a pepper mill Okay

And I just want you to aggressively season the breadcrumbs

the eggs and the flour

Okay, okay, cool With salt and pepper.

I will be honest and say that this is something

that I'm not really good at because this one time

I tried to make fried chicken and then

I was following a YouTube tutorial.

Mmm And I was following exactly

what he was doing Yeah

And then it just tasted like absolutely nothing.

You can't trust what you see on YouTube, you know?

Yeah, totally, it's insane!

So, I season this. Okay, so then once

you're seasoned up go ahead with that same fork

and scramble the eggs. Okay, cool.

Should I mix the seasoning around in the crumbs

Yeah, exactly with my hand?

Very intuitive.

Okay Yeah

I just used my hands for the dry--

I guess I use my hands for the breadcrumbs

and I use the dry fork for the flour.

The eggs don't have to be completely homogenized

but pretty well beaten All right!

And then the fork you can drop onto that metal tray

just so we don't get egg on our cutting board.

Gotchya! All right,

before we bread the chicken,

I just wanna check the fry oil

and let me know where you're at.

I am at around 346, 347? Same, exactly the same!

Okay cool All right, we gotta turn

this up because I actually wanna fry at like 425.

Okay So on the dial,

just go up to like 415 and we'll see,

these heat up fast.

415, that's like-- Yeah, 415 and then we'll

bread the chicken then we'll check it out again.

Okay Okay so now

you may want gloves if you don't wanna touch raw chicken.

Okay I don't really care

but I am wearing rings and then I'd have to take 'em off.

Okay so now what we're gonna do is we're gonna

butterfly the chicken breast.

So holding your knife parallel to the cutting board

and then like cutting into the breast from the side.

So you're kind of like splitting it in half

like you would cut like a hotdog bun or something?

Exactly! Okay perfect.

So then yeah, just making like a long cut length wise

All right cool, cool On one side

and just trying to get it sort of halfway

so that in the end we're gonna end up with something

that's really wide and really thin.

Okay So as you go through just

like leave it attached on that one--

And it'll sort of be heart shaped.

You got it open?

I'm working on it.

Okay [laughs] no rush.

We got time, I already tore mine, so it's cool.

I have a little hole in like the thin part of the tender.

But, I'm just gonna go with it.

So once you have it butterflied, let me know.

[Rich] I think I do!

Okay so once it's open,

there's a piece of plastic wrap over by the sink.

Okay Put the chicken breast

on top of it On top of it.

And then fold the other half like over it.

We're just sandwiching the chicken breast

in the plastic wrap, but you can bring it back

over to your cutting board.

All right, you sandwiched?

Uh how many layers?

Just like uh, there should be a bottom layer

Okay And then,

like a top sheet. Okay!

Yeah! I have that

Okay cool, so then find the meat mallet

which is in the metal container on your station

Got it And then with the flat side

Okay I just want you to start

to pound it out, the goal is to like get it as thin

as you can without ripping it

or busting a hole into it.

Is it to kind of make the meat thin

and kind of wide? Exactly!

Okay Like we want a big,

like almost plate sized, thin cutlet

and it's gonna cook really fast.

Cool I find like

starting from the center and working out to the edge

is the most even way to do it!

All right, mine is pretty thin

and it's definitely heart shaped,

what is yours looking like?

Looks like a sting ray

It looks like a sting ray, yeah, exactly!

Oh my God,

perfect description. Yeah

All right, I feel like if I go anymore,

I'm gonna rip it, where are you?

Uh, I can go a little bit more, I think.

Okay, what do I think about when I'm doing this?

I think about trying not to saying pounding the meat.

That's literally all I'm thinking about.

I'm trying my best not to say beating my meat.

So that [laughs], flattening,

I'm trying to say flattening as much as possible.

Okay, I'm good, I'm scared, I'm done.

You know what I'll be done too.

So yours, is it very thin?

It's quite thin It's quite thin.

Okay yeah And no tears?

Uh, as you just said that, I might've torn like an edge.

Okay that's fine Yeah

I have a little hole,

I'm good, I have a fisher.

I'll say Okay

Let's get rid of these gloves.

You can drop them in that garbage bowl

and then for this next step, we're gonna bread,

we're gonna go flour, and then egg

Okay And then breadcrumb.

I think it's good to have gloves again

because I always, there's a way that you do this

where you use one hand for the wet ingredients

and the other hand for the dry

and I never do it right and I just bread my fingers.

So, are you doing one glove?

Yeah, so gloves back on,

let's season this top side with salt and pepper.

The top side of the chicken? Yeah

So pull that plastic open

and with it still sitting on the plastic,

just season salt and pepper

'cause even though our toppings are all seasoned,

I wanna season the protein itself.

All right so then careful because it's so thin,

I want you to put it flat into the flour

and kind of press it.

So the secret to making the coating stick

is actually this flour coating being really thin.

After it's been hit on the second side,

lift it up and kind of pat any excess flour off

Okay Because we need a really

thin even coating of flour, if it's too thick,

it's gonna be like gunky under there

and if there's any bald spots

then the breading won't stick to those places

and we won't have an even coating.

Gotchya

So, nice and thin with the excess shaken off.

I have a massive tear in my cutlet.

It's okay, I have a little bit too.

Do you? Yeah

All right, you're making me feel better.

I tore my cutlet, that's gonna be my next autobiography.

Okay so then, lift it out of the flour

and then kind of the same thing, dunking it into the egg

on one side and then just lift it up, turn it over,

hit the second side, and then lift it up again

and let the excess drip off.

You can give it a little shake, get the egg off.

Okay Have you done this before?

Um, no.

You haven't made a cutlet before?

No, I've never done that.

Oh my God, the wonderful world of cutlets is open now.

So when you say a cutlet do you mean like

the whole thing where you cut the chicken breast

in half and stuff like that?

Yeah, like a boneless chicken cutlet,

anything breaded and fried,

you can do this with pork too.

Gotchya Make chung-kat-su.

Okay so then right into the bread crumb

and then for this I wanna press it pretty firmly.

Okay In there,

I'm using my fingertips so I don't like smoosh

all the egg off but turning it on both sides

and I really want breadcrumb like everywhere

and these are pretty fine so they have a tendency

to absorb right away and then you can actually

pack more on so when can turn this cutlet

back and forth a couple times.

All right.

Is your cutlet coated?

It should be right about now.

Okay so now, grab a pair of tongs.

Got it I'm gonna pick the chicken

up with the tongs on one side Okay

And I'm gonna use my hand on the other.

Okay So when you put

the chicken into the oil,

imagine like you know how seals go into the ocean

when they're on the edge and they just like belly slide in?

Yes, I know exactly what you're saying.

You know what I'm talking about?

So put the chicken into the oil like that,

like not jumping but just down and then across.

Okay, cool, oh are you doin' that

right now? It's very--

I'm doin' that right now.

So are you putting it in with the tong and the hand?

I use my hand just 'cause I'm gonna rip it if I only

hold it on one side Okay

But don't obviously put your hand in the oil.

That'd be terrible.

So you use the tong to transfer it into the baking thing?

Yeah, it was in the baking sheet, I use the tongs to

pick it up and then kind of gently lower it into the oil.

All right And it's gonna slide

like let it slide across the fry oil away from you.

And it should be boiling and browning like pretty--

Cool! Pretty fast.

Cool!

And then you can take the breadcrumb and just put 'em off

to the side Okay

Oh, it's browning!

Yeah, I see it.

Right? Mhm!

[Carla] Okay, I was like 30 seconds ahead of you

Brian I think and I'm like very brown

Okay So I'm just using

my tongs again to turn the cutlet over.

Okay, kinda flip it?

If yours, is it really dark golden brown?

It's yeah, like darker than a brown paper bag?

Yeah!

Okay, you can flip it, turn it over.

Oh [bleep]! Gently!

Whoa, whoa! Did it splatter?

A little bit Okay, you okay?

I'm good, thank you!

It's always crazy how that never--

You know, knock on wood.

But I can't believe that never hits my eye.

It's always close It's kind of amazing

'cause I actually have had it hit me all places

Okay but it's amazing

that your eye closes at the perfect moment.

Yeah! But I have gotten

burned on my eyelids It's insane,

I love it, okay!

So I flipped my chicken by the way.

And yours was very thin, right?

Uh-huh!

So, I want you to go for like,

I have to take mine out.

Okay I was ahead.

And I'm gonna use the spatula also,

there's a spatula in that equipment kit.

Okay And just take this out

All right

But you might be a little bit behind me.

I'm looking for like a very deep, dark golden brown.

It's pretty dark, golden brown to me.

Okay, great.

Take it out!

With the spatula also?

I use the spatula just for support.

Yeah, okay And the tongs.

And then just put it right onto your cooling rack.

Cool! Amazing!

And then just hit the power switch on the burner

so that the oils not still going.

Done All right, perfect.

So now there's a little pot of tomato sauce

Okay

Drag that over, you wanna spoon enough marinara

to really go like wall to wall,

all the way to the edges.

So what are we doing?

Spooning the tomato sauce over the cutlet

and kind of using the back of the spoon to push

it all the way to the edges.

Okay So I don't want

it super thick but I want it everywhere.

Like an even coating all over?

Like an even coating,

and I don't really wanna see breading

through the tomato sauce.

Gotchya, I'm kind of surprised that I'm--

I feel like I'm doin' pretty well actually.

You're surprised? Yeah

But you're like, you cook--

Yeah, but I'm not good at deep frying stuff, you know?

I know, deep frying is intimidating.

I feel like splattering happens to me no matter what.

[Carla laughing]

But the thing is with like deep frying stuff

it's just, I never know when it's cooked.

Oh yeah, see this is so thin that like

it almost cooks immediately.

Yeah All right,

let me know when you're sauced.

Uh, give me a sec.

It is taking a while to put the sauce on,

I'm gonna say [laughs].

All right, I'm done.

All right so now grab the hunk of parm

and grab your grater. Okay

And I want you to use the one kind of narrow side.

Okay So not the really big

holes and not the one opposite the big holes.

Okay, I think I know what you're talking about, yeah.

And then holding the cheese grater right over the parm,

oh my God, my hunk of parm broke immediately.

Just grate-- How much cheese

would you say? A really even coating.

[Rich] Okay

[Carla] So it should just be white on top

Okay

[Carla] A snow capped cutlet.

This is beautiful Right?

Like I'm using this hole on the grater

because this cheese will also melt really fast.

Yeah Like the big

strandy ones kinda get gunky and this will just be

that like perfect, even coating.

Like the first coating of cheese is kind of like

being absorbed by the, it's like absorbing the sauce.

[Carla] Right

[Rich] Should I keep going until it's kind of--

Yeah, keep going until it looks pretty like,

it's just been topped with an even coating of cheese.

[Rich] Okay!

I might be good.

Yeah? Yeah!

Okay, amazing! Yeah

So now, the really fun part.

We can get rid of our tongs,

just set your tongs aside.

Okay And grab the large

torch Oh, large torch.

Large torch!

So this is a sears-all

I've heard of this!

You've seen these?

I'm obsessed with making steaks

Really? So I've seen

a lot of steak videos

where people use this so yeah.

Have you ever used one?

No Okay, amazing!

All right so the only thing--

A couple things.

One is like what's gonna come out of the top of the cone

is fire, so just beware. Okay, okay.

And then the other thing,

you don't want the tank to ever go like more than parallel

to the floor so like you don't wanna invert it

all the way upside down. Okay, gotchya.

Okay, so just try to keep that so that it's more like

Got it An arch

okay cool, so then turn, there's a red button in the front.

Okay Turn that to on.

Okay And then,

that same button, pointing the torch away from you,

just click that button on.

Oh I'm supposed to hold it?

Okay, and then you have to keep your finger on the button

and if you release your finger, it'll turn off.

Okay

But that's fine, and so now we're just gonna take

the torch and like moving it back and forth over the surface

Over the cheese Over the cheese,

cooking the cheese until it melts and turns golden brown.

So the beginning it seems like maybe nothing is happening

Yeah But like the torch

is heating up and the cheese is heating up

so just sort of move it slowly around.

Oh, it's happenin'! Is it happening?

Yep!

What does it look like?

The cheese is melting.

Is it bubbling?

[Rich] Uh not yet.

Okay.

So it's gonna go like melting and then bubbling

and then browning. Okay.

And then also, this is when we find out how strong we are

[Rich] 'Cause you gotta carry the propane tank?

We have to literally carry the torch.

Oh browning, bubbling!

Oh no!

What's happening?

I just scraped [laughs] I accidentally scraped

a part of it Oh no!

With my sears-all.

That's okay!

You can turn your torch off if you wanna do a quick repair

Just grab a spoon a do a little smoosh it back over.

I was thinking of adding more cheese on it.

You can do that, do that, genius!

Great instincts, really.

All right, are you happy with your coating now?

I'm ready to torch again, yeah.

Torch again. Okay

The longer you hold it on one spot,

the faster it will go in that spot.

Keep going until it starts browning?

Yeah you want like the sauce is gonna peek through

as the cheese melts, all right let's asses.

Let's stop? Let's asses.

I mean evenly melted, some brown spots.

I think I did a really thick layer of cheese.

I see like yellow melted, evenly melted cheese.

Yeah I see the sauce

kind of peeking through it.

Yeah So I'm not sure

if that's browning or not?

Let's do 10 more, I think ours look exactly the same,

10 more seconds Okay cool

'Cause I'm also starting to see that I'm like

a little bit burning my breading

and I don't wanna burn my breading.

Okay Let's just go

10 more seconds Okay, all right.

It's just, I just wanted to turn the torch on again.

Whoever made the chicken parm for the first time

is a genius, I didn't know it was this complicated.

Well, only because we're torching.

Right, I'm gonna stop. Okay.

It's bubbling, it definitely melted,

I've got some brown spots

Okay Okay cool.

So now, you can like push your sheet tray away from you,

towards the middle of the island.

And bring over your dinner plate.

All right And then, that's it.

We're just gonna put the parm on the plate.

Okay, what do you use your spatula, or--

I am Okay

It like almost takes up the entire plate.

Okay, if you have to scooch your parsley

and lemon out of the way.

What's that?

Oh okay. If you have to scooch

your parsley and lemon out of the way, that's okay.

Okay, she done?

Um yes Awesome.

Why don't you count us off?

Do you want me to count?

Yeah! All right

One, two, three.

Ta-da! Ahh!

Oh wow Oh wow

You made like-- Kinda similar

You made like a parallelogram.

Yeah [Carla laughing]

That's interesting. That's cool!

Wow That's just how, yeah,

you butterflied and then you had those two halves.

Looks good! Cool, thank you!

Out meltage is very consistent.

I feel like you have more browning then me.

Maybe a little, I think I over-cheesed.

I think I like nervously just kept cheesing.

Oh okay Yours looks amazing.

I get to eat yours so--

Okay I'm pleased.

Okay so I have to say this is one of the most symmetrical

outcomes I've ever seen. Yeah, really?

And yeah, I'm a little embarrassed that you managed

to get your cutlet like quite a bit thinner than mine.

Oh wow, thank you Yeah

But I had that rip that I was contending with,

so I was being kind of-- Where was the rip?

Conservative, I don't, I think it was over here somewhere

but it got like breaded in Oh gotchya, got it, got it.

So no we get to switch.

Okay, okay.

Yeah, so I actually get the thinner cutlet.

Thanks, okay.

This is actually gonna be my breakfast,

I don't know about you Oh same

I haven't eaten-- I haven't either either.

Nice And I worked out

before I came here Oh my God

Because I had to hold the torch

and so I wanted to just be like extra strong.

Love the shape Thank you.

Yeah, okay.

Let's get in there.

All right.

Mmm, mmm it's crunchy!

Nice Perfectly cooked

Nice, let me get some more cheese.

Oh that's the tear, you were asking about that torn.

Yeah, that's right there.

He got the little torn edge, it's like a tender.

Yeah, cool. All right, awesome.

Mmmm!

Mmm! Mmm!

Nicely done! Thank you!

Great coating! Wow!

Love it, mmm!

It's like not too seasoned or anything?

No, if anything it could be a little more.

Okay It's kind of amazing

how much that breading--

Mmm! Wow

Who doesn't love a chicken parm?

This is really good.

Thank you, yours is delicious.

This is the best chicken parm I've ever had.

What?

Mhm, usually the chicken parm

that I have is like, I don't know,

it's a lot bigger-- Right

A lot chunkier The mozzarella.

With the mozzarella Yeah

Yeah, that's the one that I have.

Who needs, we don't need, it's not chicken mozzarella.

Yeah exactly.

Thank you! Thank you!

That was fun Yeah!

[Carla] We're just gonna eat our chicken parm now.