Chef Judges Our Viral Japanese Food Attempts | Ultimate Battle

0:00 Japanese cookery is some of the most technical on the planet.

0:03 So, we've asked our three normal home cooks,

0:05 who we're trying to raise up to chef level,

0:08 to pick a technical, complex Japanese recipe to go away and research it,

0:13 practice it, and today nail it.

0:18 [music]

0:17 Boys, what are you cooking?

0:19 Today, I'm going to attempt to make the viral sensation that is omu rice.

0:25 That rice dish with that unbelievable omelet that sits on top

0:27 of the rice that you then slit open and it reveals a gooey,

0:33 marvelous, indulgent, [music] eggy center.

0:35 Like bright yellow.

0:36 Bright yellow.

0:37 Yeah.

0:38 One or two degrees not enough, you got raw egg.

0:40 One or two degrees too much, you've cooked your egg.

0:42 We want perfect.

0:44 I am attempting a Japanese [music] soufflé cheesecake.

0:49 That wobbly, jiggly, airy, incredible thing that we've all seen.

0:54 Um, and basically every single step requires precision.

0:57 And if any one of those steps doesn't have precision, um,

1:01 the whole thing will be deflated, myself [music] and the cheesecake.

1:06 Stop.

1:06 He's printed out [laughter] most of Nottingham Forest.

1:09 That's it.

1:12 Whereas ever as I'm going for the viral sensation that is croissanty.

1:16 Or croissant onigiri.

1:18 [music] Oh, dear.

1:20 Put together.

1:21 So, croissants baked into the shape of onigiri,

1:24 the triangle, filled with a [music] beautiful tuna filling,

1:29 uh, and then topped off a little bit of, uh, seaweed on the outside.

1:32 Yeah, should be good.

1:33 Well, boys, can Pekinese suri What does that mean?

1:37 make it perfect?

1:39 Oh.

1:41 First of all, I've got to get my croissants shaped [music]

1:43 and then baking in the oven.

1:45 Now, we don't have 3 days.

1:48 So, I am cheating a little bit with [music] just rolled croissant, uh, dough.

1:52 It's already been made.

1:53 I just need to shape it, get it baking, and I can move on to my filling.

1:58 [music] So, the beginning of this cheesecake starts with the cheesecake batter.

2:02 So, that's cream [music] cheese, butter, double cream,

2:04 and a tiny bit of salt whisking till it's nice and smooth and warm through.

2:10 Now, we haven't done a normal versus normal versus normal battle for a while.

2:14 Quite like the fact they've actually put some

2:16 effort into researching and even to some extent practicing.

2:20 Every day this week,

2:21 the family have been having about three or maybe four omelets each on average.

2:27 [laughter] All of these ingredients are going into everything.

2:31 I'm just prepping things ready to when I when I start stir-frying my rice dish.

2:35 The sauce is a big component of omelet rice.

2:38 Most of our home will just use [music] ketchup or tonkatsu on top of it.

2:43 But, a lot of people use demi-glace.

2:46 [music] And again, that's either usually from a can or they'll

2:48 quickly make it in the microwave [music] with a couple ingredients.

2:51 I wanted to make this the most luxurious version,

2:54 so I've got uh veal juice, beef juice, and chicken juice in there.

2:58 Reduce that down.

2:59 Going to make a quick um roux to thicken it out.

3:03 And then, hopefully,

3:03 that'll be beautifully silky to pour over the end of the dish,

3:07 but also [music] through the rice, as well.

3:12 Where's the pinch point in yours, Mike?

3:14 I'd like to know where the pinch point isn't, [music] to be perfectly honest.

3:17 Um this is all about air.

3:20 So, as it rises, it becomes super fluffy,

3:24 browning on the top, and not collapsing in the oven.

3:27 So, I've done so much research and seen so many videos of different people

3:32 attempting this that I've kind of taken

3:34 the techniques to address some of those things.

3:37 Yeah, essentially making a almost like a foam that traps air,

3:40 and then as you put it in the oven, the air expands as it heats.

3:44 That's the rise.

3:45 At the same time, it's got to set from the eggs,

3:49 the proteins, but also the flowers, so that it traps the air in.

3:53 If one happens too quickly, or the other doesn't happen at all, it collapses.

3:58 I'm putting the croissant dough into a triangular

4:00 mold so as it bakes and it expands, it will keep that shape.

4:05 Baking paper, baking tray, and a massive heavy pan on top so

4:11 that it doesn't leech over the sides when it cooks.

4:15 Since separating, I can still see a little bit of white, which we do not want.

4:20 But then we also don't want any yolk going in there, so So that What was that?

4:24 That was a That was an instant thought process that panicked.

4:27 Yep.

4:27 And then you weighed out your egg yolks,

4:29 and now you've lost half of the egg yolk into the sieve holes.

4:32 Well, you say weighed six yolks.

4:38 [music] And then we're going to sift in flour and cornflour.

4:45 Now, every good onigiri needs a filling,

4:46 [music] and there are tons of different fillings to choose from.

4:49 I'm I'm taking my inspiration from some

4:51 of the most popular ones that I saw online,

4:53 so I'm going for tuna, QP mayo, [music] and wasabi.

4:56 You mix this all up and you've already confused me.

4:59 Headers and footers, please.

5:01 I'm trying to say very Japanese No, stuff it.

5:04 More very Evers in the way I prep [music] things and try to thinking ahead,

5:07 getting all of my veg done first, prepped mise en [music] place,

5:11 chicken last cuz that would ruin then ruin the board.

5:14 Then I can clear all that down and get

5:15 ready to do my stir-fry and finish off my demi-glace.

5:18 A star already.

5:23 Now for another crucial step, a meringue.

5:29 [music]

5:29 Whisk them.

5:29 I don't tickle them.

5:30 There's a reason.

5:32 1 minute whisking until foamy.

5:34 This was repeated through multiple videos and recipes that I'd seen.

5:38 Then adding lemon juice, which is going to stabilize the proteins in the egg,

5:45 and therefore mean it traps more air into the finished meringue,

5:50 which is critical before it gets added [music] to my batter.

5:53 Squeeze of lemon juice or in a lot of old traditional recipes in the UK

5:57 you'd have seen cream of tartar can go in cuz it does the similar thing.

5:59 The acid helps stabilize the egg whites.

6:02 And then I'm gradually adding caster sugar till we reach firm peaks.

6:07 Filling: tuna, wasabi, Kewpie mayo,

6:10 toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, some sesame seeds,

6:13 [music] mix all together into a piping bag and we'll pipe that into our onigiri

6:19 once they're out of the oven and cool down a little bit.

6:21 You guys can be the judge.

6:23 We'll put a playlist of some of the other three-way

6:25 normal battles and you can see how much they've improved,

6:28 changed, grown up and where sabotage has become respect.

6:32 Maybe.

6:33 We'll see.

6:37 Oh, my arm [music] is so sore.

6:38 As part of the research for this bike,

6:42 we said to ourselves, [music] we're going to deep dive.

6:45 Yeah.

6:45 to practice.

6:46 So, have you not made this?

6:48 I've not made this.

6:49 This is This is my first attempt.

6:52 Right, meringue is at firm peaks.

6:55 It's now got to be folded into the batter without losing any of that air.

6:59 Now, which way do you do it, Mike?

7:00 Egg yolk [music] into dairy or dairy into egg white?

7:04 Meringue into [music]

7:06 the dairy.

7:06 So, I think it's looking good.

7:09 We put a third of the mixture in first and then we use

7:14 a whisk to slowly fold it in without losing any of that air.

7:22 And the reason you add the third of the meringue [music] at this point is

7:26 to basically make the whole mixture more airy

7:29 instead of just dumping it all in at once.

7:31 Not cooked.

7:32 Not cooked.

7:33 Back in.

7:36 [music] Demi-glace being a traditional French mother sauce, I guess.

7:40 It needs to be thicker than that.

7:41 the roux being the same thing.

7:44 The other option would be a beurre manié you

7:46 add into the liquid rather than liquid into the roux.

7:50 For the topping, I'm going for cream cheese, togarashi, sweetcorn.

7:55 I'll put that into a piping bag so I can get that out on top.

8:01 So, I've got [music] a springform cake tin,

8:02 and this has been reinforced more than an army vehicle.

8:05 I've lined it with baking parchment cuz if this sticks, it's all going to pop.

8:10 And I've also put tin foil around it because once I've

8:14 filled this, we're going to fill this tray full of hot water.

8:18 So, when it goes in the oven,

8:19 [music] it's going to kind of steam and bake at the same time.

8:24 Exactly that.

8:25 Nice bain-marie.

8:26 Demi-glace is very meaty.

8:29 Now, I'll make it a bit more fruity and season it [music] with tomato ketchup.

8:34 Soy.

8:36 Soy.

8:37 Thanks, but you know what I mean.

8:39 It's doing a double of the salty.

8:41 It is, but wetter.

8:43 Yeah.

8:46 So, a lot of the videos I saw

8:48 were using a chopstick to make these circular motions.

8:52 And that way, because the chopstick is so thin,

8:55 it's getting rid of all those air bubbles.

9:00 I've done a little julienne of pickled uh daikon.

9:02 I've got some micro cress.

9:05 [music]

9:04 And then I'm going to have my nori, which is going to go around the bottom.

9:07 Excellent.

9:08 Barry, could you open the oven for me, please?

9:10 Come on.

9:13 You done?

9:14 Have a seat, mate.

9:15 Relax.

9:16 I'm I'm done for 15 minutes, and then I've got to do something.

9:19 I like a no-bake cheesecake.

9:23 I'll give you a straw.

9:24 So, you'd be forgiven [music] for thinking I sit in the oven now,

9:27 just takes care of itself.

9:28 Absolutely not.

9:29 Cheers, Japan.

9:30 Um [laughter] it's going to cook for 15 minutes,

9:33 and then I need to lower the temperature down to 140

9:37 where it's going to cook for about 45 [music] minutes.

9:40 And even then we're still not completely done.

9:45 Okay, we need to fix that.

9:46 Jay, what are you thinking?

9:49 I haven't used enough dough,

9:50 so it hasn't gone out to the edges of the mold and therefore

9:53 what I've ended up with is something that isn't precisely on a geary shape.

9:57 So, a half an hour into this video, Yes.

10:00 you're starting again.

10:01 Yes, but everything else is ready.

10:04 [music] [music] Now moving to the stir fry, chicken in searingly hot pan,

10:18 then the umbrella for chicken, then in my onions,

10:21 my two tops and mushroom, add in my mate, garlic,

10:26 chili, and then finish with the sauce and the rice.

10:31 Today, because timing is everything, especially for Barry's,

10:35 we're going to judge them when they're ready, not all together at the end.

10:42 This is now going down to 140.

10:44 [music] I'm letting some of the hot air escape.

10:51 So, is it that that goes into the iron shaped mold?

10:55 Yeah.

10:55 Just thing is Drop of that in that, condense it onto the plate, Yeah.

10:59 and then omelet over the top.

11:01 But the like the most difficult thing about the omelet is the speed of cooking.

11:06 But you fold it, don't you?

11:07 You have to It's it's you make it You make it you won't you make scrambled eggs.

11:12 [music] Yeah.

11:12 Turns into an omelet.

11:13 You then turn that into a calzone.

11:15 And then you open the calzone.

11:17 I actually genuinely understand what you're saying.

11:20 [laughter] Yeah.

11:22 This guy's done [music] 388 days of this affected.

11:27 This was him overcooking it.

11:28 Like after 388 days he's still overcooking it.

11:31 Baz, have you seen there's a guy on TikTok?

11:34 I've seen this guy, yes.

11:36 The world's hardest omelet.

11:39 Right.

11:40 Come on, Barry.

11:41 So, this is it.

11:42 This is the moment, right?

11:43 This is the the egg flippy over and First of all,

11:47 I just have to [music] prep my eggs.

11:48 Okay.

11:48 Okay, so three eggs.

11:56 [music]

11:55 Those you go over top by straining it to get rid of any impurities and the extra

11:59 shell to make sure cuz what you want is a really smooth finish to the outside.

12:04 When we do omelets like here [music] or the French omelet,

12:07 it's a bit golden, it's a bit creased.

12:09 This one needs to be completely pure.

12:11 And you don't want to get too much air into it.

12:13 Some people also put a splash of milk

12:15 to slow down the curds cooking too quickly.

12:18 I've not done this with an audience.

12:20 Get back in here.

12:25 You want a flavorless oil on top.

12:27 No olive oil.

12:29 The your usual kind of like 12-in pan.

12:31 Our home is pretty good with long as you got a high sides and the uh these bits

12:37 The rivets.

12:37 The rivets don't get in the way.

12:39 A higher higher edge to it there.

12:41 Yeah.

12:41 It made it a lot easier because a lot of the cooking is done at this angle.

12:44 Mate.

12:45 That ideally needs to be about 200° so it should

12:48 it should be a shock as it goes in the pan,

12:50 but then it should equalize quite quickly and not color too much cuz

12:52 I'm mixing it up in into into the I know we're ALL BUSY.

12:55 OH!

12:57 But I've made triangle croissants.

12:58 Wow.

13:00 I'm going in.

13:01 You let them cool down.

13:03 Take good in straight away with chopsticks.

13:07 Cuddle over.

13:10 long?

13:10 Um these are cooking ones that I've

13:12 just did the first time today with chopsticks.

13:18 Now, you want to tap down to get rid of any bubbles.

13:23 [music] No, this this is too hot.

13:23 This is not not quite right.

13:24 But then you have to do this thing to bring it up

13:28 and it starts to [music] fold itself very slightly and like clap itself closed.

13:32 So I want to get into that crease there.

13:34 Hop.

13:35 Hop.

13:36 All in the wrist.

13:37 Ah, screwed it.

13:38 But that's the idea.

13:40 Right, okay.

13:41 Let's go again.

13:41 No pressure Baz, but you've got this.

13:49 Yes, mate.

13:50 The only way to do it is I've got to flip it again.

13:53 Cuz you've got to reverse it back onto the onto the pan.

13:55 One, two, three.

13:57 I DOUBLE FLIPPED IT.

14:00 [laughter] I DOUBLE FLIPPED IT.

14:02 FLIP.

14:03 FLIP.

14:04 YES, WELL DONE.

14:05 WELL DONE.

14:05 WELL DONE.

14:05 RIGHT, GO ON, MATE.

14:06 Go on, mate.

14:08 Amazing.

14:09 Amazing.

14:09 Amazing.

14:10 Yes.

14:10 Yes.

14:11 Come on.

14:13 Come on.

14:14 Oh, it's a bit too much.

14:15 Slightly over.

14:16 Too Too Too much time.

14:17 I took too much time.

14:19 Third time lucky.

14:20 Last three eggs, Baz.

14:21 Yep.

14:21 Last three eggs.

14:22 This is the This is the This is the one.

14:26 Quartons have come out of the oven.

14:28 They filled the mold perfectly.

14:30 They've actually formed pretty much perfect triangles.

14:33 I just need to trim the edges slightly.

14:35 They look really good.

14:37 I need to fill them,

14:38 but we're not going to know whether these are great until we cut into them

14:41 and to see if they're cooked all the way through or if they've dried out.

14:54 Well done, mate.

14:55 Get it on.

14:55 Get it on.

15:00 YES.

15:01 YES, MATE.

15:02 YES, MATE.

15:02 YES.

15:05 BEAUTIFUL.

15:06 OH, MATE.

15:07 Cracking job.

15:08 Yes.

15:08 Well done.

15:09 Cracking.

15:09 Well done.

15:10 That's brilliant.

15:14 [music] So given the timely nature of the dish, I'm going to judge it now,

15:22 but I'm going to hold back my feedback and summary until the end.

15:28 I know this doesn't mean anything in terms of judging, but I really like it.

15:32 I definitely have thoughts.

15:35 Good ones?

15:36 No.

15:40 [music] It looks stunning and sexy, JAMIE.

15:46 WOW, THAT you did not You did that.

15:50 It looks like an idea Jamie would have had,

15:52 but never would have been able to do.

15:54 It looks like the emoji of a croissant.

15:56 Wait, you did it.

15:57 It does look slightly AI, doesn't it?

16:00 [laughter] It does, you're right.

16:01 is, how do the fillings taste?

16:02 And more importantly, I think,

16:04 how's the croissant dough cooked [music] in the middle?

16:07 When you open it up, it's a sandwich, isn't it?

16:09 I've made a tuna mayo sandwich.

16:10 You make triangle sandwiches like off of being sick.

16:14 With no crust.

16:17 They look the part.

16:21 Oh, he's not going to follow that up.

16:23 Just one more to try.

16:28 [music] This is my Japanese soufflé cheesecake.

16:38 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT, WAIT.

16:39 OOH.

16:40 WHY?

16:42 NICE COLOR ON TOP.

16:45 YEAH, it's got the crack, and it has deflated.

16:48 I'm happy it [music] got to this far, but I'm not happy with it.

16:54 I have seen so many failures of this.

16:57 When you bring it out, and it just goes [snorts] Yeah.

16:59 That is impressive.

17:02 run.

17:04 [music] It doesn't need chewing, it just needs sucking.

17:08 Yeah, it's really, really light.

17:10 You're right.

17:12 [laughter] I think you've done a great job.

17:13 It's a real challenge.

17:14 Your your care and your precision in the folding

17:17 and your attention to detail with the chopstick and the preparation,

17:20 the research gets you something that's absolutely delicious and eats well.

17:24 I think we'd all like a little bit more rice, but it's a challenge.

17:28 I think the two issues, the crack and the deflation,

17:33 were all down to temperature control.

17:35 So, the reason it cracked is because the oven was too hot.

17:39 So, the top cooked before the middle could catch up.

17:42 Therefore, as the middle Yep.

17:44 baked, it cracked.

17:45 And the deflation was letting too much [music] air out of the oven

17:48 after the cooking before leaving it in there for half an hour.

17:53 [music] But, it's a fair effort, for sure.

17:54 It's delicious.

17:54 Which brings us on to your fair effort.

17:57 Okay.

17:58 Which was also down to a cute timing.

18:01 And on your fourth one, you nailed it.

18:04 Now, I think your first one was so damn close,

18:06 then you lost confidence on two and three,

18:09 but you pulled it back for four, which was the best of the lot.

18:12 That demi-glace sauce was really powerful,

18:16 intense, salty, meaty, delicious with the egg,

18:20 which was nicely seasoned, helped your rice,

18:23 which I think was quite under-seasoned.

18:25 But, actually, if you eat it all together, it worked really nicely.

18:28 Well done, mate.

18:29 More importantly, it was that technique we were looking for in the cut

18:31 and the kind of steaming bavois egg inside that was cooked, but still loose.

18:37 And no color on the outside.

18:38 That you nailed.

18:39 And Jay, I think out of the three,

18:43 yours looked the most impressive and I think yours looks the best on camera.

18:48 Probably the least amount of skill given

18:51 the recipe you chose and the approach you took.

18:53 You didn't make the laminated dough, but the fillings were great.

18:56 I think I'd have liked a bit more filling just to offset the ratio,

18:59 but I think that's a subjective thing.

19:01 I think the shape and the color and the The presentation

19:04 precision on them and the detail on even

19:06 the tiny micro crystals on top was very unlike you.

19:10 But, brilliant for it.

19:12 Brilliant for it.

19:13 I tried to lean into my most Japanese side.

19:18 I loved this as a process, having to go and deep dive,

19:23 and I've learned so much through a semi-failure.

19:28 The I I just thought this was so enjoyable.

19:30 Yeah.

19:31 What [music] I enjoyed about it was that I

19:34 was able to recreate the thing that I had seen.

19:36 Now, I [music] did it in using a cheat.

19:38 And what I think that gives me is the inspiration

19:41 to then try and do it using my own dough as well,

19:44 because that is that is another level.

19:46 And I don't know if I'm ready for that level, [music]

19:48 but I won't know until I try.

19:49 Push yourself.

19:50 I did use this one.

19:52 I feel like Like you said, it was just brilliant.

19:55 I could I could do over and over and over again.

19:57 You guys can't practice yours over and over again.

19:59 But the most [music] the most chance to practice, for sure.

20:02 I'm going to judge this on research and then application

20:07 of technique to deliver something that was picture perfect at the end.

20:12 And whilst it was delicious, I think that puts Mike in third place.

20:15 Yeah, that's fair enough.

20:17 Which brings us on to you two, [snorts]

20:18 and I think the winner today has to be the one that I

20:24 would be most scared of trying and getting right, and that's Barry.

20:27 Woo!

20:28 Well, I think the technique on that omelet [applause]

20:31 you had tried, you'd practiced, you'd perfected, and it was damn, damn good.

20:36 But there's still a long way to go to get it right.

20:37 I've got to make another thousand omelets, so sorry, family.

20:41 It's all right, you've got your pan now.

20:42 Yeah.

20:43 If you enjoyed that, give the video a like,

20:45 and if you want to see the normals tackling

20:47 more like really tricky techniques and getting close to perfection,

20:51 then comment down below which techniques they should be trying.

20:54 Oh, I was hoping you were going to flip it round to the chefs.

20:58 All chefs.

20:58 All chefs.