Brad Makes Yuzu Kosho

Oh, [bleep]!

Hey, guys.

And it's live.

We're gonna make one of my favorite

Japanese condiments, yuzu kosho.

Today we're gonna put it on some nice

little seared up shrimp, very simple,

but we're gonna walk you through it anyway.

[clattering]

It's okay.

[upbeat music]

So yuzu kosho, there's three ingredients in it.

There's yuzu, which is a citrus

traditionally from the islands of Japan.

This particular one, these are grown in California.

We get 'em from these fine folks

out at Melissa's Produce, all right?

They sent me a bunch of fresh-harvested ones this year,

and yeah, thank you.

We got our yuzu.

We zest that.

And then it's chiles.

Traditionally in Japan, they use a small chile.

It's kinda similar to the bird's eye or the Thai chile.

So you're gonna wanna use a chile that is a hot chile.

We're gonna be using some habanero and serrano.

You wouldn't wanna go using something

like a bell or a Hungarian wax pepper or something.

You wanna use a chile, I hot chile.

And then some salt, and it's all by weight and percentages.

Traditionally, I believe it's like an 80/20,

chile to yuzu zest.

We're gonna do a 70/30.

We're gonna do 200 grams,

and then the salt would be 10% of that weight.

Make sense?

What?

20 grams, Vince.

Way to put me on the spot, bud.

It's why I chose round, whole numbers

like that, real easy math.

We're gonna do 140 grams of seeded, destemmed chiles,

so we'll start with doing that.

I'm gonna put some gloves on.

[exhales] It don't work here.

Nothin' works.

Ah, just blow in it they say. [exhales]

Guess it works a little.

Okay, first I do, I take the stems off.

I like to do 'em all in an assembly line.

I like this new knife.

You hear that?

Get it up to the mic.

[knife tapping]

Lively, right?

[knife buzzing]

[mumbles]

I don't know.

Huh?

Something in my eye?

Well, why do you say that?

Do I really?

What is it, Vinny?

Well, we're dealing with chiles.

You gotta be careful, buddy, all right?

Even gloves won't save ya.

You just go wiping your face,

you can get into a world of trouble.

I've been there.

Was there really something on my eye?

Oh, you're a great friend.

I try to scrape out as much of that

little pithy, kinda spongy inside.

And be careful.

I mean, if you got safety glasses, put 'em on.

Morocco would probably advise it.

[bell dings]

Oh, Nelly!

I don't know where that saying came [coughs].

Ooh, it's getting in my lungs a little.

What?

Oh, that Nelly.

Is he still making music, Nelly?

Nelly owns a basketball team in the NBA?

Oh, he's an investor, silent partner.

Nelly, call me. [cash register dings]

All right, let's get back on track here.

Nelly Furtado.

I'm not really too familiar.

She's more like a bird?

Is that the name of a song?

Carpool?

Yeah, with all my friends.

We'd carpool to school and we used

to listen to Nelly Furtado.

[Brad] And this is what you listened to?

Yeah, I'm Like A Bird.

Oh, I think we smoked [bleep] and listened

to System of a Down or something. [laughs]

Hey, I can get into that.

All right, 100 more grams to go, Brad.

Nelly Furtado.

Is that like the

♪ Swinging and swinging out on a bearded barley ♪

[laughs] That's not Nelly Furtado?

Who sings that one?

I like that tune.

[both laugh]

All right, Brad, pull it together here.

These chiles are gettin' to me, bud.

Vince, I'm a little bit of a pickle.

I need some more chiles,

but I don't wanna go opening the bag.

Andy, help us out, bud.

You don't have to take your shirt off.

I just need a couple chiles, Andy. [laughs]

So yeah, I was just telling these guys

you wanna get the seeds out,

and then you and me were talking too.

You really wanna get that pith out, too, of the pepper.

You wanna get that pith out.

I mean we're, well, I'm like were.

I think habaneros are perfect because...

Here, can I use your knife for a second?

[Brad] You're gonna get chile hands, but yeah.

You see?

It's almost hollow.

There's very little pith.

The more white insides you see,

the more bitter it's gonna be.

Sorry, I'm a little sleepy.

[lullaby music]

I keep calling it the pith. 'Cause it is kinda pithy.

I don't think it's the technical term.

And it just makes it for a more

fibrous yuzu kosho, which you don't want.

I said 200 grams, but we're gonna do 160 grams

and then 40 grams of the yuzu.

[lullaby music]

Oh, no, no.

140 of the pepper, 60 grams of the yuzu zest.

All right, see you, Andy.

Just in case I contradicted myself there, Vince.

It wouldn't be the first time.

That's why you keep notebook.

Let me clean this up real quick,

and then we'll get into the yuzu.

[upbeat music]

So we got our chiles.

We got 140 grams.

And the split we're doin', I might have said 60/40.

I might have bounced around a little bit.

You'll have that.

But what we are doing [laughs] is a 70/30 split.

What I did, I already washed all these.

Just give 'em a nice little wash, and [clears throat].

Cut.

Cut.

Or maybe we don't use that.

This is gonna backfire on me.

I didn't wash these yet.

I just wanna give 'em a little rinse,

but I would really like to not,

'cause then you guys are gonna [bleep] me on this one.

I would love to give 'em just a little rinse.

All right, fine.

I'll just come clean, Vince, all right?

I lied.

I didn't wash 'em yet.

All right, you keep me honest.

Just a little quick little rinsey-poo, Vince, all right?

Oh, Rapo.

We've got a Rapo alert.

All right, so we've got our washed yuzu,

and now we're gonna zest it.

You don't wanna go too deep.

You just wanna get that nice zest off the top,

but that juice is something special too.

So look. [squeaking]

Lot of seeds in there, but you can juice 'em.

[inhales] Oh, man.

I wish you guys could smell 'em.

Nothing really smells like 'em.

A little piney, very citrusy but a little piney,

and the juice is awesome.

So we'll juice these.

I wanna use it for a batch of kombucha.

So look.

Ooh, four!

Oh, five, look at that.

And like I said, we're gonna need 60 grams.

[beeping]

At five a piece, that's 15, ain't it?

Is it?

Yeah. [bell dings]

Yeah, oh man.

These things smell awesome.

Look at that, that's beautiful.

[inhales] Oh, mama.

You know, it makes sense.

I actually learned it from old Matty Matheson.

Old Matters!

And he was like, with the Microplane,

only go one way when you're cutting.

And when you're understanding burrs and metal and edges,

that kinda makes sense, you know?

You go this way and then back,

you're just kinda pushing that edge down a little bit.

I don't know.

Great guy, great book.

Check it out.

Let's go to noodlin'.

Ooh, little bit more, bud.

We'll do two more.

We'll get a couple big boys in there.

Come on, big boy yuzus.

You know I was reading, imagine that.

I was reading.

Someone was growing some yuzu in New York,

I guess maybe indoors or something.

Hey, Rapo, wanna smell something good?

It looks like you're looking for some killer content.

I got some for you.

How's the zest smell.

[inhales] Oh, yeah.

It'll open you up, get you goin'.

Yeah. Ready for the holidays.

It's like a zingier lemon. Yeah.

And then we're gonna toss it with some shrimp,

peel-and-eat yuzu kosho shrimp.

Stick around! [thumping]

[triumphant music] [audience applauds]

All right, Vinny.

All right, Uncle 'Inny.

That's what my kid says.

Uncle 'Inny. [laughs]

Talks like his old man.

Okay.

[glass shatters] [cat yowls]

Now, you could mince all this up

and smash it, make a paste.

I forget the name of it,

but it's that Japanese mortar and pestle

where it has the ridges on the inside.

Very nice.

I gotta get one of those.

What are those called, Chris? [beeping]

Not to put you on the spot there.

Eh, sounds right. I have one.

Oh, no.

I'm gonna use the food processor,

but I was talkin' how you could.

Now you could tweak these percentages,

and if you can't get your hands on yuzu,

you don't have to use yuzu.

[laughs] You can make it from any kind of citrus.

I've done it before with a mixture of grapefruit,

orange, lemon, limes, any type of zest

and any type of chile that you can get your hands on.

But if you can, it's worth it.

Into the food processor.

Boom, you get that shot, Vince?

[food processor whirring]

And a little spatch-a-la-doo here.

Oh, yeah!

Hoo, baby. [coughs]

That's the stuff, huh?

Who's fighting a cold?

Come take a little whiff of this.

Just beautiful.

[coughs] That's it!

[laughs] Are you gettin' that, Vinny?

[coughing]

If you have a respirator, wear one of those too.

Jesus.

I like that. [clears throat]

That's probably good for you.

Maybe not. [coughs]

[Brad laughs]

Just a little blitzo.

We're add the zest.

All right, we'll give that a little blitzy-blitz.

Look at that color.

My god!

Glow in the dark! [mysterious music]

Like that Ecto Cooler.

I think that's what it's called, right?

Or Ecto Slime.

Ectoplasm. Ectoplasm?

Chris knows everything.

Next, Vinny, salt.

It's a decent amount of salt,

so it's like a nice little condiment.

You're not gonna go spooning this into your mouth.

I mean, you can I think, a little bit.

It's a nice little jazzy condiment.

[jazz music]

And the salt at that level will help preserve it.

So in the fridge, this stuff will last quite some time.

But, like most things Vinny, as we've learned, oxygen.

You wanna keep it away from oxygen,

as it'll start to oxidize and become

a real kinda ugly color.

All right.

That color is something else, and the smell, guys.

You're gonna have to make this at home

just so you can smell it.

My god.

So I wanna taste this now.

You could just eat it now, you know.

We'll taste it.

But I believe it's good to cure it.

Oh, what happened?

A little switchover, huh?

I think it's good to cure it for a week.

I'm gonna put it in a vacuum seal bag

to eliminate oxygen exposure.

You can put it in a jar or something,

in a bag, a Ziploc bag, whatever you've got.

So we're gonna do that, let it go for a week,

and then we're gonna make some shrimp.

Let's do this.

Oh, it's Delany. [ominous music]

My arch nemesis.

[growls]

He's always comin' down here, trying to eat my shrimp.

I do a double seal, but you know that about me.

Wish I had another set of arms sometimes, you know?

Like that dude from Mortal Kombat.

Guru or whatever the [bleep] his name was.

Guru or Goro.

Well, I really dug Raiden.

He was cool.

But I also really liked get over here scorpion guy.

Did an uppercut.

Send you through the ceiling, no problem.

Yeah, you don't [bleep] with that guy.

But I never thought it was fair, because Raiden was a god.

What are you gonna do when a guy's a god?

Guy can shoot lightning out of his face!

I wanted to try a little bit of it

before we cure it for a week in the refrigerator.

[train whistle blows] Ooh, eeh, yow!

[coughs]

Well, it's got some heat.

It's very bright, I mean bright, bright, bright.

Anything you put this on is just gonna pop.

But I think over time, it will,

especially on food, it kinda mellows a little.

I made a swap a week ago, so we're gonna cut

that open and use that for the shrimp.

All right, now when you seal this, it's got liquid in it,

so it's gonna start suckin' it up.

You gotta be ready to hit the button here, all right?

[machine whirs]

Huh!

That was perfect.

I did a perfect job on that.

Fastest thumps up on this side of the Hudson River.

[laughs] Don't touch!

Where's the other batch? Hold your horses, cowboy!

I'm gonna pop my name on it.

Put my do not take tape.

[glass shatters]

[gentle piano music]

My dearest Emily, I hope this letter finds you well.

The winter's been full of hardship.

What's the date?

The fifth? 12/5.

12/5, making a little yuzu kosho.

Here's some fresh.

We're gonna cure if you wanna just do, ooh!

We got everyone.

Friends!

Look at that color too. Wow!

So you vacuum seal it. That's delicious.

Get the oxygen out, you know?

Gotta scrape the-- Yeah, I got some zested ones

if you really wanna pie out.

Sure. Get in there.

Meow Mix. [cat meows]

Zest and juice? No.

Just zest, [gentle piano music]

chiles, and salt. Hoo!

[Carla] What we doin' with the juice?

Well, the juice I'm gonna do a kombucha batch.

Yeah! Yeah.

Look at the change in color.

One week.

[bright music]

All right, cool.

Did we talk about color already?

So we got a cast iron on the fire there,

nice little medium-high heat,

and then I just got some shrimp, shell on.

I'm just gonna cut it down the back

and just kinda go a little deep,

kinda open 'em up a little.

But it's gonna be a peel and eat.

You'll see.

Oh, you'll see.

Now, I'm not gonna add anything

to this but a little bit of olive oil.

Plenty of salt,

plenty of acid, plenty of heat in here.

Oh, olive oil's right here.

I'm gonna put them shrimp right in there.

Whoo, mama!

Step right outta that pan and bite ya!

All right, Brad.

Just wanna get a nice char on that outside shell.

You can eat it if you want.

Got a lot of glucosamine in it, good for the joints.

I know a couple of friends that grind

them things up like cats. [record scratches]

Cats, like not grind cats, but how cats grind things.

You get it.

Hopefully.

[cat meows]

Meow.

And yeah, we'll do that.

We'll cook them like 90% through.

90, maybe 93%.

Put 'em in a bowl, a little more olive oil,

little bit of that yuzu kosho, toss, toss.

Lunch, lunch.

What's better than that, Vinny?

I like to put 'em up on edge just for one minute.

All right, into the bowl, Vinny.

Kill the heat, Cheech.

We'll use something like that.

Lemme taste it by itself.

Kinda mellow.

It's delicious.

Over that time in the walkin refrigerator for a week,

everything just marries and marinates

and becomes this one beautiful thing.

Let's try, huh?

Oh, yeah.

You know what I would recommend?

Don't even plate this.

Eat 'em right out of the bowl.

Mm!

Can I have one? Delicious.

Of course you can.

You can really taste the yuzu.

It's nice, right?

And then what are some other things?

I would put this on a whole fish, I was saying.

You could put it on chicken, pork, almost anything.

Oh, a yuzu roast chicken would be great.

Even raw stuff, if you're into raw seafood.

Like crudo.

Raw scallops, a swipe of yuzu kosho.

Oh, I love that! Take a few spoonfuls of that

and then thin it out with some lemon juice.

[Both] Or yuzu juice.

Make like a mignonette.

Or yeah, you could do a yuzu mignonette with some vinegar.

Ooh!

Well, thanks, Andy.

Well hey, have some fun doin' it.

Try different citruses, try different ratios, experiment.

I'd love to know what you guys put on the yuzu,

or what you put your yuzu kosho on and have fun.

Bon appetit, Vinny.

The rest are for you and me.

New Years?

It's not even New Years, Vinny.

It's December.

If I knew the future, I'd be rich, Vinny.

That reminds me of Back to the Future,

you know, Biff when he gets the Almanac.

Anyway, he makes a you know...

Yeah, that'd be cool.

Man, that'd be cool.

I never get a picture.

You hid my phone.

But I never get a picture.

I'm always like hey Vinny,

I gotta get a picture when we're doin' this stuff.

[bleep] stupid photo.

Oh!

That's why you hid my phone, all right.

Favorite trip that we've been on together, Vinny?

[sighs] It's just been so many.

I don't know, man.

They've all been special in their own way, but maybe Alaska.

That was cool.

I mean, we took a seaplane.

Shotgun!

You ever been in a seaplane before Vince?

Me neither, bud,

so go ahead and put your seatbelt on,

put your tray up, and get ready to take off pal.

How do I get this so I can...

Oh, it's this one maybe.

Why does this always happen to me?

It's not funny.

How'd you do it?

You didn't do it!

Vinny, put the camera down and help me, for god's sakes.

[bright music]