Troye Sivan Tries to Keep Up with Carla

Did that happen?

Oh, yeah. [gags]

Okay. [laughing]

Whoa.

Hey, guys, it's Carla.

I'm here in the BA test kitchen this morning

with Troye Sivan. Hi, how are you?

I'm great, how are you? Good.

Good, so we have 20 minutes

to make chicken under a brick in a hurry,

and we're gonna see how well you can follow along with me

through verbal instructions only.

Got it, let's do it.

Do you have a good ear?

Yup.

Are you a great cook?

No. Okay, cool.

So, we're gonna turn around

and then it's just my voice to yours.

Okay, bye. Okay, here we go!

First things first.

So, chicken under a brick, literally, you need a brick.

Okay? Yeah,

I thought it was gonna be a brick of potatoes or something.

No, this is a real, actual, physical brick.

This is gonna be touching the chicken,

so we don't want the brick touching the chicken.

So, just go ahead and just wrap it up.

You don't have to be crazy,

but just get that foil all the way around it.

Alright, so take the tray with the chicken

and actually just...

I want you to just pick the chicken up by its legs

and move the chicken over to your cutting board.

Okay. Okay?

So, now, we're gonna butcher the chicken.

Okay.

Have you ever done this before?

Never. Okay,

so the thing with butchery is that

you don't actually have to cut through any bones.

You're gonna cut close to bones.

So, if you feel like you're struggling

or you're up against a bone,

your knife is in the wrong spot.

Alright? Okay, gotcha.

So, first things first, we're really just...

I want you to take off the leg and the thigh.

So, starting with either leg,

pick up the thin knife that says flexible at the bottom,

Yup.

and you wanna make a cut basically

between where the leg connects to the body,

and make a thin cut...

Just cut through the skin right now

and you'll be able to kinda see what's going on.

Oh, yeah. Yeah,

and then rotate the chicken onto one hand

and use your other hand to bend the leg back.

It seems a little gnarly.

And just pulling it back like you were opening up a book,

and pull it back until there's a socket's

gonna pop right out of the hip joint.

Oh my God. [laughing]

Did that happen?

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[laughing] Whoa.

I did not expect that. Okay,

are you alright? I'm good, yeah.

I've just never done that before.

Alright, so now take the knife,

and I want you cut up sort of at the top of the thigh.

You just work your way kind of around to one side of it

and that whole leg and thigh piece

should come off in one piece.

Is it still connected to the body?

Um, not anymore. Okay.

I don't know if I did it right,

but it's definitely separate.

[Carla] Okay, cool.

So then just set that leg and thigh piece

off onto one of the rimmed sheet trays

that has the parchment. Yup.

How do you feel about going and trying the other leg?

I think I can do it now. Alright.

Awesome.

Okay, so you've got that

right where the drumstick connects to the body,

cutting through the skin to separate it,

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And then roll your chicken

so you can kind of pop that thigh bone out.

So, yeah, just bend it back like you're, you know.

Oh, there it is. There it is.

Oh my God.

Like you're breaking the spine of a book.

[laughing] Woo, I found the spot.

Alright, so then you're...

Yeah, I went really fast, sorry.

So, then you're just slicing along sort of where the thigh

connects to the backbone, through that joint,

and that whole piece should come off.

Alright, so Troye,

now you've got two leg quarters, basically.

Pick up one of them and set it onto your cutting board

skin side down.

Skin side down.

Yeah. Yup.

So, the next thing we're gonna do

is we're actually gonna remove both the drumstick

and the thigh bone.

So, there's two bones here

and they're connected through a joint

at the top of the drumstick. Yup.

So, what I'm gonna have you do...

First of all, do you see where the socket...

I know this was the part that was the grossest,

but the part at the top of that bone that's sticking out,

if you run your finger along the chicken,

you'll be able to feel under there where that thigh bone is.

And you're gonna cut straight down into the flesh

right on top of the bone because what we wanna do

is just cut the flesh away from the bone.

You're cutting alone the bone?

Yeah, exactly.

You wanna be as close to the bone as possible,

and then using kind of short strokes,

Yeah, yeah. cut the flesh away,

but just be careful.

Don't go all the way through the flesh,

and we don't wanna puncture the skin.

We just wanna kind of loosen...

Oh, okay.

[Carla] You got, you know, see what I'm saying?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, cool.

Loosen the bone away from the flesh that surrounds it

by making these short little incisions,

but just cut on the left and right side

of the drumstick bone 'til you get as close to

kind of the ankle as possible.

Using a little back and forth motion

just going towards the bottom of the foot

and cutting away underneath it.

Okay. Does that make sense?

Yeah, I feel like mine's really mutilated.

That's okay.

The side that we're gonna show in the end

is gonna be the skin,

so that's why I'm just Yes, which is still

pretty in tact. being careful.

Yeah, not to mess with the skin.

So, now you should have this v-shaped...

You should have a bone that's, like,

the only place that its really still attached now

is at the top of the joint,

and then kind of turning it over

and just using those small cuts again

to cut around the joint until that leg is gonna be free.

It's really gross.

Are you cutting up now at the top

where it connects to the thing?

Yeah, I'm kind of cutting around where that

joint was at the top,

[gagging] cutting, trimming around it,

getting a little bit under it, and then at a cert...

Something I...

I popped something in there that bled,

like, blood came out of it. [laughing]

Whoa. Cool.

You're really good at going through it now.

We're puttin' you through the motions.

Alright, so do you feel like you have one

piece and your bone is gone? I have one boneless,

boneless piece. Get rid of the bone.

Fantastic.

We're gonna just flip this over.

Let's just look at the skin side.

It should be pretty in tact and look like a giant cutlet.

Yes. Okay, cool.

Let's do a little hand wash real quick.

Okay, thank god.

Now that we have clean hands,

we can take one of these kitchen towels,

and you should have a bowl salt and a pepper mill.

So, just good amount of salt and pepper on both sides.

Make it rain,

and then you can use your tongs

if you don't wanna touch the chicken again,

which are in this little equipment bin,

and you use that to turn the chicken over to the flesh side.

And then, wait, sorry.

Flip it over with the...

[Carla] Flip it over with the tongs that are in that bin.

Yes, I'm so starstruck by all of these tools

'cause I watch this on YouTube every day.

So, now, turn your attention to this lovely cast iron pan.

Let's try simmer.

Find the little tablespoon measure

that should be at the top of your station.

Fill that from the squeeze bottle,

and then that's gonna go right into the pan.

Okay, it's in.

Okay, and then chicken's gonna go in skin side down.

And you're not... Right now?

Right now.

Oh, yeah, we're not wait...

We wait for no one.

Okay, so then the next thing, remember the brick?

Yes. Alright,

so brick onto the foil. Where did I, oh, got it.

Directly onto this chicken thigh.

Seriously?

Seriously.

Chicken under a brick.

And so, this means this weight

is gonna be pressing down on the chicken

the entire time that we're cooking,

and it's gonna help the skin stay in contact with the pan,

which is gonna make it get really crispy.

And it's also pressing down,

which is gonna make it cook really quickly.

So, now grow your timer,

there should be a little timer in front of you,

and just hit the start button.

[beeping] Alright,

we got 10 minutes on the clock.

So, the next thing we're gonna do is make

a little thing that I'm deciding to call pesto verde.

Pesto what?

Pesto verde.

Verde, gotcha, yeah, yeah. It's like pesto

and salsa verde had a baby.

Alright, so grab that mortar and pestle,

the big gigantic stone thing,

and then take that clove of garlic

and just smack that garlic clove a few times

until the skin splits.

And then pop the skin off.

I think it's a teaspoon of salt, dump that on top.

And, Troye, how do you feel about anchovies?

I like them when they're in stuff that I can't taste them.

[mumbles] Okay, perfect.

So, then this is the perfect use of an anchovy.

So, there's a little bowl with one anchovy,

A single anchovy. and you can dump that

into the mortar as well.

The abrasiveness of the salt against the garlic

with the pounding is just gonna turn this whole thing

into a paste, okay?

Okay, go for it? So, just let it rip.

You wanna kind of a combination of

[tapping]

pounding straight up and down

and then once in a while I like to take the pestle

and kinda use it in a circular motion

to kind of grind everything against the side.

[Troye] I think mine's about as smushed as it's gonna get.

I'm pretty smushed too.

Okay, so the next thing that's gonna go in

is this whole bowl of parsley. Love that.

And we're gonna do the same thing,

but it's never gonna get completely smooth.

Okay, wow.

But it is gonna break down quite a bit.

This thing is so cool, this big smasher.

The pestle?

Thing this, yeah. I love them.

So, do you feel like your parsley's pretty broken down?

Yup.

Let's just put this to one side for a second.

I wanna slice the scallions

with the greens all the way at your knife end.

And just make one cut at the beginning

just to even up all of the ends, and then if you can,

keep your knife on a little bit of an angle.

It doesn't really matter,

but just thinly slice all the way through

and then just keep going down

'til you're in the pale green territory.

So, set those aside for a sec.

Okay.

Bring your mortar back onto your cutting board.

Off of this tray, drop in those red chili flakes.

Into the thing, the... Into the bowl,

and then this mustard,

which we might need the spatula

to scrape the mustard in as well.

And then that brown liquid is sherry vinegar.

We're gonna add the little adorable

measuring cup of olive oil

and just pour that right into the bowl as well.

Oh, good, you love olive oil.

Olive oil's good for everything.

It's a great moisturizer. Yes.

Okay, we're in.

And get everybody to know each other.

Love that.

Have you ever wanted to make this

and then had to make a trip to Home Depot for a brick?

[laughing]

I've used some odd things at home.

If you have a heavy pan,

you can put a layer of foil in between

and just put a heavy pan on top.

Ah.

Alright, so when you feel like that mixture's mixed,

go ahead and add all of the scallions.

[gasps] Okay.

I'm gonna switch to the spatula.

I wanna keep them in their original shape.

In hindsight, I feel like my scallions are much too thick.

You know what?

I feel like I don't have enough olive oil.

So, let's just give this a taste and then we can adjust.

There should be a tasting spoon in that metal container.

Yup.

I personally feel like I wanna loosen mine up,

but I'm just gonna give it a lil' taste for salt.

Wow! Mm!

Oh my God, yum.

It's very crunchy and vinegary, right?

Yum, yeah.

Wow, and spicy, actually. But there's gonna be...

And a little bit spicy,

but that vinegariness is gonna be really good

with the fatty chicken.

It's chicken checking time.

Ready?

Grab that brick.

If I look at it from the side,

it's mostly cooked all the way through.

Yeah, I'd say the same.

Maybe mine's a little bit still underdone, but...

A little underdone?

Alright, so what we're gonna do now,

I wanna turn the chicken over now onto the flesh side.

What are you doing with your brick?

I know, it's I'm holding it awkwardly in one hand.

Same, but then how are you doing anything else?

I mean, we don't need you to...

You're right, I'm gonna put it down.

[laughing] Would it...

Just put it down on the table?

Yeah, it's 'cause I'm so ripped,

I'm just holding that brick

and doing other stuff at the same time.

So, now carefully turn the chicken onto the flesh side.

Okay, it's a little... Oh, look at that color.

Oh my God, it is gorgeous.

And we're just gonna let it hang out

while we clean up our station,

and by then I think it's... Woo, it looks so good!

Right?

Alright, so using that slotted metal spatula,

just lift the chicken up,

and then you wanna go right onto your plate.

This is like the most beautiful boneless

cutlet I've ever seen. Three, two, one.

Okay, and now we're gonna put a little sauce on the plate,

but be mindful you just created this unbelievably beautiful

golden brown skin surface,

so we don't wanna cover the whole thing up.

So, I'm just gonna put a few spoonfuls of the sauce

around the chicken to start.

Okay. You know?

And some of the chicken juices are going to,

as the chicken rests, Oh my God.

[Carla] some of the juices are gonna come out

and they're gonna mix in with the sauce.

So, are you putting any of the sauce on the chicken

or not really?

So, yes, but I'm gonna do it kind of off to one side

so if there's anything that you'd actually were like, oh,

that didn't come out as perfectly

and you might wanna cover up,

like I have a paler golden brown area

that I don't mind covering.

So, just kinda goin' off one edge.

Okay, great.

So, do you have your sauce and your chicken?

Are you happy with how it looks?

Yeah. Me too.

Okay, we're gonna turn around,

and I get to check out your chicken.

Okay. Alright.

Ready? Three,

[Both] Two, one.

[gasping]

Wow! Beauteous!

Why is yours so big? Oh, I love how you...

[laughing]

I get that a lot.

Yours looks amazing.

Thank you.

The color is so beautiful.

I'm a little bit upset at the shape.

It's more of a organic kind of continent shape,

and I went for more of just a blanket,

a blanket shape. Perfect, round, gorgeous.

Yeah. But you should,

you should never apologize

because if you cooked chicken perfectly through

with crispy skin, it doesn't matter what shape it is.

Yeah, fair enough.

And your sauce looks good. You know what I did

that you didn't do? Tell me.

Was a nice little I know.

I heard you doing that. plating up.

And see what I said about the juices

mingling with the sauce? Yeah.

But also, talking about crispety cruncheties,

this outer guy, That's the part that I wanna

eat the most, actually. that's the guy.

Well, I'm gonna eat it, so...

Fair enough. [laughing]

But that's the one you want.

Just make sure it's cooked before you eat it.

It's totally cooked.

100%.

For someone who had never cooked a chicken

and then you butchered a chicken and cooked it perfectly,

I'm impressed.

Okay, so at the beginning,

I think you were at solid beginner.

How do you feel now?

Intermediate.

Oh, good. No, I'm kidding.

I don't know. [laughing]

Slightly better beginner.

Oh, I think you're...

Yeah, you've been through some stuff now.

Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah, for sure.

I'm gonna buy a cast iron thing and

try it. You are?

Cast iron skillet, mortar and pestle, make the second time.

I still don't know what that is.

Okay [laughs].

I'm just gonna keep eating this chicken.

Cool.

Come back any time.

Thank you so much. Thanks for visiting.