Simply Ming
Ming Tsai with guest Jonathan Waxman
2/3/2022 | 25m 8sVideo has Closed Captions
We’re cooking with one of the pioneers of California cuisine, chef Jonathan Waxman.
This week on Simply Ming, we’re cooking with one of the pioneers of California cuisine, chef Jonathan Waxman. Jonathan shows us the best way to cook chicken at home. It’s a chicken under a brick! And Ming follows that up with the best way to make lobster at home: Black Pepper Lobster with Lemongrass Fried Rice.
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Simply Ming is presented by your local public television station.
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Simply Ming
Ming Tsai with guest Jonathan Waxman
2/3/2022 | 25m 8sVideo has Closed Captions
This week on Simply Ming, we’re cooking with one of the pioneers of California cuisine, chef Jonathan Waxman. Jonathan shows us the best way to cook chicken at home. It’s a chicken under a brick! And Ming follows that up with the best way to make lobster at home: Black Pepper Lobster with Lemongrass Fried Rice.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship>> MING: Hey, Ming Tsai here with Simply Ming.
I have an incredibly special treat for you.
The legendary Jonathan Waxman is in the house.
Who is he?
A pioneer of California cuisine.
Restaurants in New York and all over.
And he was on Top Chef, and his nickname was Obi-Wan Kenobi.
He kind of just walked and flowed through the kitchen-- everyone else was running crazy.
That's Jonathan Waxman.
He's gonna show us the secret of how to cook the best chicken at home.
Chicken under a brick.
>> Oh, my God.
Oh, look at that.
>> MING: Oh, look at that.
Looks like Peking duck, that skin.
>> Isn't that great?
>> MING: I'm gonna show you how you cook the best lobster at home, which is a garlic-black pepper lobster, wok-stirred.
We're gonna just bring this to a nice simmer.
We're going to add this part, which takes a little bit less time to cook.
We're gonna show you some classic cooking techniques at home.
Coming up right now, right here, on Simply Ming.
♪ ♪ >> MING: Jonathan.
Thanks for being here.
It's such an honor.
>> Ming, it's always a pleasure, you know that.
>> MING: It's a true honor to have you in my kitchen.
So I'm gonna start you with one of my classic favorite cocktails we developed 20-plus years ago called a Blue Ginger Gimlet.
So I'm gonna make that for you, if you don't mind just dumping that... >> Yeah.
>> MING: You have to pre-chill your glasses, right?
It's been all this time, you know better than me.
You were saying your first job ever was a bartender, right?
>> My first job after I was a trombone player.
>> MING: Right, and you were tromboning all over the world?
>> All over-- well, not all over the world.
But, you know, California, Hawaii... >> MING: Right.
>> Las Vegas.
I actually went to school at University of Nevada, Reno.
I had a music scholarship.
>> MING: Really?
>> Yeah.
>> MING: And then, what brought you to cooking from... >> Well, I was in Hawaii, and, uh, the band that I was in broke up, and my friends go, "Well, you got two options "to stay in Hawaii-- you could either sell drugs or you go work in a restaurant," so I opted for the second.
>> MING (laughing): That's good.
And guess what.
You would not still be selling drugs.
(both laugh) That doesn't... That doesn't go for as long as your career.
All right, so by the way, it's two parts of vodka to one part of fresh lime juice and one part of ginger syrup.
>> And what's in that ginger syrup?
>> MING: The ginger syrup, it's actually-- we take fresh ginger, peel it, in a food processor, and buzz it with sugar and water.
>> Oh, cool.
>> MING: We don't even, we don't even heat it, actually, and then we strain it.
So it's gonna have a nice little spice to it.
>> Yeah, I love ginger more than anything.
I think it's such a great cocktail component.
>> MING: Yeah.
It's the best with savory and sweet, right?
I mean... >> And it's so good for you.
You know, people don't realize, you... you're getting, you're getting drunk, but you're also getting, getting healthy.
So, there you go.
>> MING: Exactly.
Antioxidant, baby.
All right.
Like that.
All righty.
Two Blue Ginger Gimlets, baby.
To you.
>> No, to you, thank you.
Appreciate it.
>> MING: Can't wait to try your chicken under a brick.
>> Cheers.
>> MING: Cheers.
>> That's really good.
>> MING: Oh, good.
>> That's delicious.
>> MING: Right?
Spicy, tart, not too sweet.
>> I could go all night long with this.
>> MING: Let's do it.
>> (laughs) >> MING: Let's do chicken first.
Come on, this way.
>> Let's go.
>> MING: Bring your cocktail.
All right, Jonathan.
Let's see this chicken under the brick.
I'm so excited.
>> Let's do it.
>> MING: So what's the secret, or are there many secrets?
>> Listen, there is no secrets in cooking, you know?
It really is technique.
Don't be afraid of what we're gonna do today.
>> MING: Okay.
>> We're gonna have a great time.
>> MING: I'm gonna get his chicken, because you can't do a chicken under a brick without a chicken.
That I know.
>> And you have to have a sharp scissors.
>> MING: Yep.
Whole chicken.
>> Whole chicken.
All right, so, the deal about chicken is, you know, honestly, Ming, it's all about getting the best chicken.
You know, everybody's squeamish about touching the chicken, and, you know, you're going to get some kind of bizarre disease.
So, I just use a fork and flip it over.
And looking at the back side, the way to cut it is from the very bottom.
And you can remove the backbone, and you literally-- make sure you go, cut around the oyster, that big, plump little-- little guy right there, my favorite part.
>> MING: The best part of the chicken.
By the way, in chefs' world, the best chicken is organic-- or the best is poulet de Bresse from France, I think, for flavor.
>> You know, people that are really invested in making great chickens now, and I think that's happening a lot.
We're going to turn these wings inwards, because I think that's a good thing to do.
So, here's the drill.
You spatchcock it.
And, you may go, "What is spatchcocking?
That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard in my life."
>> MING: It's a funny term.
>> It's a funny term.
>> So, if you grab that brick for me... >> MING: Yes, sir.
>> And we're gonna flip it over.
This brick is beautifully wrapped in aluminum foil.
>> MING: Okay.
>> And guess what?
(bones cracking) Hear the breaking of the bones?
>> MING: Breaking of the bones.
>> Breaking of the bones.
We're gonna smash, and we'll get up on our tippy toes, and we're gonna push down.
And we've broken the bones.
>> MING: Yep.
>> We're gonna put our brick over here, 'cause we're going to use that in a second.
And look at how nice and flat that is.
>> MING: Now it's flat.
And the purpose, of course, is, now, it's basically all the same thickness, right?
>> Yeah, you want to have that, that plane be almost exactly the same.
You want the drumsticks and the breast to almost be at the same level.
In the pan, though, the bricks will make everything work.
>> MING: Okay.
>> Now, what we want to do is put a little olive oil on here.
>> MING: Okay.
>> And if you heat up the pan for me, Ming?
>> MING: Yes, sir.
>> Medium to medium-high.
And here's the drill-- you don't want it too hot, because you're going to burn the chicken.
>> MING: Okay.
>> You don't want it too low, or you won't cook it.
>> MING: Right.
>> And you're going to sort of, just kind of... You know, have a, you know, a very funny-looking bird at the end of the day.
And I always use coarse salt... >> MING: Which is coarse sea salt, right?
>> Sea salt, exactly.
And guess what-- it's better for you.
Tastes better.
>> MING: Tastes better.
>> It has more intensity.
And... And don't be afraid of pepper.
You could do me a favor.
If you could put a little butter in the pan for me?
I'm gonna go first, and I'm gonna go... Oh, that's a nice...
So, now here we go.
We're starting to see the bubbling in the pan.
>> MING: Yep.
>> In a ways...
Almost one of the greatest things in cooking is using your ears and hearing things that's going on.
So put the butter in.
There should be a little sizzle from the butter.
(sizzling softly) And this to me is the zen part of cooking.
>> MING: Yes.
>> And I love this.
And you-- and you go right ahead and add the chicken right to the pan.
And guess what.
We're going to season the other side, as well.
>> MING: Okay.
>> You do the pepper, I'll do the salt.
You do it first.
>> MING: Don't be afraid of the pepper.
>> Don't be afraid of the pepper.
>> MING: Mm-kay.
>> And see how nice the chicken is?
It almost doesn't need the brick, this chicken.
We did such a good job on smashing this guy.
But here we go.
>> MING: We did such a good job.
(both laugh) You want a second brick, right?
>> Yeah, let's do two.
Now, you can see what's happening.
I'm gonna put mine right at the forefront, and we're gonna be architects here, and kind of get it so the point the chicken is really flattened down.
>> MING: How long do you cook?
Stays on?
>> So this bird weighs, probably, in its raw state, About four pounds.
>> MING: Yep.
>> We've taken the, the backbone out.
So we're down to three and a half pounds, a little bit-- thereabouts.
>> MING: Right.
>> To me, it's about ten minutes a pound, >> MING: Ten a pound.
>> And it really depends on the heat coming from the pan.
>> MING: Yep.
>> Depends on the weather today.
And the thing about chicken, it's kind of funny.
Don't fuss with it.
Let it hang.
>> MING: Just let it hang.
>> Let it hang.
>> MING: And you can hear it.
You hear that slight sizzle.
>> And, and I think that sound thing is so important.
>> MING: I agree.
>> We-- you know, in America, we almost cook always with our eyes.
>> MING: Yep.
>> And you can smell that, that butter and that olive oil with that chicken almost immediately.
To me, that's a great sensory... >> MING: Fantastic.
>> ...thing going on.
>> MING: But approximately what?
Eight to 12 until you get the right color?
>> Yeah, I think we're going to go about eight minutes on this guy.
>> MING: Okay.
>> We're not doing sauté right now.
Sauté is a high heat-- "sauté" actually means "to jump."
>> MING: Right.
>> So, we're not jumping.
The chicken's not flipping up in the pan.
>> MING: It's not a flying chicken, no.
>> So we're kind of gently simmering it in the butter and olive oil.
And that, to me, is what people have to understand.
You don't want to blast it here, you want to be nice and calm.
>> MING: Thank you, like Obi-Wan Kenobi.
>> Exactly.
>> MING: Thank you.
All right, we're gonna hang out for eight minutes.
When we come back, we're gonna have this chicken, and we do step two.
>> Thank you.
>> MING: Stick around.
Gimlet time.
So, ten minutes in, about?
>> Yeah, we're about one-third of the cooking time, Ming.
>> MING: Okay.
>> So let's... We're going to just take the bricks off.
And they're not going to get hot, so no one has to worry about that.
>> MING: Right.
>> And then, taking a trusty kitchen fork, because you don't want to stab the skin, let's look at it.
(Ming chortles) >> Look at how beautiful that is.
>> MING: That is G, B, and D, buddy.
Golden, brown, and delicious.
>> That's, that's the beauty of it.
So, let's put the bricks back.
>> MING: Okay.
>> You go first, I'll go second.
Beautiful.
>> MING: Okay.
>> And then, I'm gonna dice the onion, and then... >> MING: Fennel diced?
>> Yeah.
Now, it's a big fennel, so we don't need all of it, because it's not going to all fit in the pan.
And then-- not too small on the onion, not too small on the fennel.
>> MING: Okay.
>> Because you're going to cook these about eight to ten minutes, and you don't want them to cook too quickly.
So on the garlic, split it in half, make sure there's no green stem in the middle down there.
>> MING: Okay.
>> And literally just take, like, take the corner of the cutting board, and... A little whack like that.
>> MING: Yep.
>> That's all you have to do.
>> MING: Got it.
>> And that really gets, to me, all the flavor out of the garlic.
All right, so we're just about there, right?
>> MING: We are.
So all this goes in the pan now?
>> Yep, we're going to put it all in the pan.
Um, I'm going to take the bricks off.
(pan sizzling softly) >> MING: Okay.
>> And then, we're going to... and I'm going to shake-- shake, and make sure you keep shaking the pan, so it doesn't stick.
And then I'm gonna add all this stuff gently.
>> MING: Okay.
>> Right around the edges here.
>> MING: Behind, Chef.
>> If you could redistribute that for me, and, Ming, we're gonna put a little salt in the veg, so we're gonna gently-- if you could just massage that.
>> MING: Okay.
>> And then shake the pan, so they all kind of... >> MING: Would you like the fennel now, Chef?
>> Yes, please.
>> MING: Okay.
(pan sizzling softly) >> Can you hear that?
That's a great sound.
>> MING: Yeah, that's the sizzle.
Sizzle sound.
>> The sizzle sound.
Now, these guys...
The chicken has exuded some of its own fat.
We'll put the brick back on.
>> MING: Okay.
>> There you go, voilà.
Again, another eight to ten minutes >> MING: So, the second-third of cooking.
>> Yeah, exactly.
>> MING: Awesome.
Is there anything we can do while that's cooking?
We're doing slicing, dicing?
>> So, yeah.
I'll do these.
>> MING: Okay.
>> We'll-- we'll do it together.
>> MING: Do it together.
>> Yeah, and... >> MING: These are radishes, by the way.
>> (laughs) >> MING: These are, like, King Kong radishes.
I've never seen radishes so big.
>> As you're dicing, I'm slicing.
>> MING: Well, I'm-- I'm making pieces, no?
>> Whatever, whatever you like.
>> MING: Okay, sorry.
>> It doesn't matter.
It really honestly doesn't matter.
>> MING: I'm not a very good commis.
>> Yeah, neither am I.
>> MING: (chuckles) >> I don't listen very well.
>> MING: Okay.
>> So... >> MING: So, another what, six minutes, right?
It's been about four, you said about ten?
>> Yeah, it took us about... Well, we were pretty good on, on... Now, at this point, I want you to take that fork at home or right now, and just make sure the vegetables are not sticking.
>> MING: Mix 'em around.
>> Mix 'em around.
Look at them.
And again, I want to shake...
Shake the pan for me, Ming.
>> MING: Right.
>> That looks perfect.
>> That looks perfect.
>> MING: Right.
>> And... Oh, it just smells great.
>> MING: It smells awesome.
Okay, so...
Per my clock, another six minutes?
>> Err on the side of, of...
Trying to get to the proper temperature, which is 165 degrees.
>> MING: Right.
>> Always.
>> MING: Right, and use a thermometer-- we do.
>> There's no harm or foul by doing it what we call the correct way.
>> MING: Exactly.
All right, back in six.
Chicken!
>> And let's take the bricks off.
>> MING: Okay.
>> And let's examine this guy.
See what, what we're talking about here.
So... (pan sizzling) It stuck a little bit, but you know what?
Don't-- never panic.
No, we're good, we're good, we're good, we're good.
You know, I could... A little bit of assistance there, Ming?
>> MING: Uh-huh.
>> Thank you.
Oh, my God.
>> MING: Oh, look at that.
>> Look at that.
>> MING: Looks like Peking duck, that skin.
>> (laughing): Isn't that great?
>> MING: Seriously.
>> All right, so, you're gonna cook some peas for me?
>> MING: Okay-- salt, yes, Chef?
>> Yeah, yeah, give me some salt, thank you.
And the radishes.
>> MING: Okay.
Those are English peas, fresh.
>> All right, so, while these guys are cooking... >> MING: Okay.
>> Let's turn this up a little bit, get some heat on here.
>> MING: Got it.
>> And I'm gonna add some rosé wine.
Why rosé?
Well, number one, it's that time of year.
>> MING: Yeah, and it's delicious to drink.
>> And it's delicious to drink.
And, funny enough, the amount of residual sugar that's inside the rosé... married up with the fennel, the garlic, the onions, the peas, the radishes, is just gonna help everything out here.
>> MING: Love it.
>> And there's some caramelization that happened in the bottom the pan.
>> MING: Right.
>> We don't need a lot of rosé.
So, you boosted the heat up for me, yes?
>> MING: Yep.
>> Isn't that gorgeous?
>> MING: And scrape off this foam, right?
>> Yeah.
>> MING: So all the pan, stuck to the pan, that rosé, you want to scrape that off.
'Cause that is flavor.
>> That's beautiful.
>> MING: Okay.
>> Isn't that gorgeous?
>> MING: That's, that's so beautiful.
>> So this takes maybe a minute and a half, two minutes.
What you want to do is, you want to just get it to the point where it's sort of al dente.
You want to just get, get it to the point where you're infusing the vegetables with that boiling water.
>> MING: Right.
>> So I love just sort of stirring these guys up.
Let's taste one of these guys to make sure they're hot and delicious.
>> MING: I'm sure.
>> All perfect.
>> MING: Perfect.
Good-- good... >> A little bit of water off there, and then look at that.
>> MING: It's beautiful.
I love that, and by the way...
Cooking wine?
No one in this kitchen ever uses cooking wine.
If it's not good enough to be drinking wine, you can't cook with it.
>> Brother, I'm actually gonna add a little bit of butter.
>> MING: Okay.
>> Because, number one, I love butter.
>> MING: So do I.
>> Number two, it looks good.
And we're gonna add about two tablespoons here, no more.
>> MING: Okay.
>> No more seasoning, though.
I think we have enough seasoning.
>> MING: Yep.
>> We have a little peas that got caught into the chicken there.
We'll get rid of those.
>> MING: Okay.
>> And, uh, you ready?
>> MING: Yep.
>> I'll bring it over.
>> MING: All right.
And so this is on broil, that's good?
>> Yeah, broil's good.
>> MING: Okay.
>> Look at how beautiful that is.
>> MING: Ah, that's beautiful.
So, basically, you're just cooking it to just make sure that it cooks all the way through.
>> 100%.
And we're just going to leave it in here.
So what did we say, we've got about eight more, ten more minutes of cooking?
>> MING: Right.
>> So we have time to have more of the cocktail.
>> MING (laughing): More of the cocktail, that'll be 30.
All right, eight to ten minutes.
We get chicken under a brick without the bricks.
Cheers.
>> Cheers.
>> MING: All right, Jonathan, that was about another... >> All right, let's do it.
>> MING: Another ten minutes.
Wow.
>> Wow.
>> MING: Yeah, baby.
>> Let me get this... >> MING: There's a thermometer.
>> All right, let's make sure this sucker is actually cooked.
>> MING: Okay.
>> So, the thickest part of the chicken is right at the breast here.
And-- can you read it?
>> MING: Yep.
>> I don't have my glasses on.
>> MING: It's getting to 50...
It's going up, 52... 54.
Slowly.
>> Okay, so here's the drill.
I would let it sit right now for about five minutes.
>> MING: It'll get to... >> Regardless of anything else.
You know, anything out of the oven, even out of the pan, it has to rest.
>> MING: Yep.
>> If you do the outside... >> MING: Right.
>> It's gonna be-- what temperature is that guy?
>> MING: You're at 179, 182... >> There you go.
>> MING: Right.
>> So you want to get the two temperatures to merge.
>> MING: Yep.
>> So, you had about 150... >> MING: 55.
>> 55 there.
180 on the outside.
>> MING: Yeah.
>> Let it sit for five minutes.
They're going to come right together.
>> MING: Perfect.
>> Perfectly.
>> MING: 165.
>> And you know what?
We need to have time to, to toast each other.
(both laugh) >> MING (laughing): Thank you, Jonathan.
Keep toasting.
All right, we're gonna go let this hang for five minutes, then we're gonna carve it up.
>> MING: All right, Jonathan.
So, nice five-minute rest.
>> Beautiful.
>> MING: Voilà.
>> All right, look at the steam coming off here.
And why don't you taste that sauce?
See if you've got enough seasoning in there.
And I'm gonna slice-- first, I'm going to take the leg off.
>> MING: Okay.
>> Look at how beautiful that is.
>> MING: Oh... >> Isn't that gorgeous?
>> MING: Look at all the juices.
>> I know, it just... >> MING: Exuding.
>> Then I'm going to cut the leg, right...
Beautifully like this.
>> MING: Right.
>> Put this back in.
>> MING: That sauce is perfect.
>> Thank you.
>> MING: Perfect.
>> And, you know, let's make this easy on ourselves.
Let's not go crazy.
Just gonna cut this guy right down the middle.
>> MING: Easy to do, because there's no backbone.
>> And right, we're going to cut a... Let's see-- the breast meat is always the hardest thing to get right in chicken.
>> MING: Yep.
>> It always gets, comes out, and it's either just too...
It's overcooked.
But let's look at that.
>> MING: Oh, my God, look at that breast meat.
>> Isn't that gorgeous?
>> MING: I mean, look at that.
That is, like, the juiciest, juiciest meat of all.
Oh, my God.
>> And I like a big hunk like this, I'm sorry, but I like it.
>> MING: It's just... >> I want to rip the wing off.
>> MING: Right.
>> Um, and that skin... >> MING: You can hear it.
>> (laughing): You can just hear it.
>> MING: Snap, crackle, pop.
>> It's like parchment paper.
You know, it's just gorgeous.
And you turn that...
It's good to have a Ming Tsai knife.
>> MING: (laughs) >> So you can slice right down through it.
>> MING: Right.
>> Notice I'm using the fork.
>> MING: Right.
>> As a guide for the knife.
>> MING: Right.
>> It's a good tool to learn.
And it really is something that's... Well, you can use a regular kitchen fork.
You don't need to have a fancy thing like this.
>> MING: Plus, the fact that it's screeching-hot.
>> Yeah, you don't want to touch it.
>> MING: Can't be using your hands on this.
>> And look at that.
>> MING: It's so beautiful, perfectly juicy.
(gasping): Oh, my God, look at this chicken.
>> I'm eating that skin, dude, I'm sorry.
>> MING (laughing): I'm eating it all, I'm eating that piece right there.
(both laugh) >> MING: All right, guys, there we go.
Chicken under a brick.
Awesome.
Stick around, I'm going to do a little garlic- black pepper lobster for you.
>> Let's do it.
>> MING: Can not wait to eat that chicken.
>> Thank you.
>> MING: Masterpiece.
All right, I hope you enjoy it.
This is a garlic-black pepper lobster for the home.
So check out this lobster, Jonathan.
What I did was, I had boiling water, and I put the claws and the knuckles in a bowl, and I added hot boiling water on top of it, left it six minutes to the second.
Not salt it, shock it in cold water, and then you can take the lobster out.
That's why it's still raw-ish, right?
Because I want to cook this lobster in my wok, not boiling.
>> Cool.
>> MING: And then these, if you don't mind-- first of all, first slice me some thin scallions, and these we're gonna cut just in between each shell.
We have medallions in the shell.
I'm gonna make the deglaze liquid, which is...
Uh, white wine.
It's four...
It's, I'm going to do it almost two cups of white wine.
I'm going to do a cup and a half of white wine.
It's four parts white wine to the same part of chicken stock.
>> Now, where did you get this recipe from?
Did you just conjure this up or was it inspired by something?
>> MING: You know what?
Inspired.
Most of our food is inspired by someone else and somewhere else.
This was... >> Or stolen.
>> MING (laughs): Or stolen.
This is after a Singaporean dish, a national dish called black pepper crab.
So I've adapted it to make it black pepper lobster.
All right, and here's the fish sauce.
This is the soy sauce of Southeast Asia.
Very fishy.
Very delicious.
And you have to try it.
This should taste fully seasoned, but it can't be too salty because it's gonna be deglaze.
Oh, just a touch more.
All right, so there's my deglaze sauce.
The lemongrass fried rice, Jonathan, is lemongrass and ginger with some onions.
So I have some onions already going here.
Just a little brown color on them.
I'm gonna go ahead and add all this lemongrass, which I love, and a good amount of ginger.
All right, so I'm gonna get that... Nice and sautéed and soft.
And to that, we add leftover rice, right?
And as you know, Jonathan, fried rice was created on, "What do we do with all this leftover rice?
", right?
So we're just gonna let that sit there.
The heat will heat the rice, and that'll actually mix really easily.
To the lobster.
We take a little bit of canola oil.
I'm going to take your lobster shells.
Put them on this plate for me when they're done, please, Jonathan.
And I kid you not, guys, this is a lot of black pepper and a lot of garlic.
We're not gonna use quite all that.
But we're going to use a good amount of it.
Because it's a garlic-black pepper lobster, so I want you to really taste it.
One, two, three.
That's a good amount of garlic.
And check how much black pepper I actually use.
Look at this, Jonathan.
One tablespoon, two tablespoons.
>> Wow, two tablespoons?
>> MING: That's more black pepper than you'd use on, like, ten steaks, right?
>> (laughs) >> MING: But, what happens is, a really hot wok, it will really dissipate this black pepper and it won't be nearly as spicy.
So you just want to toast that a little bit.
Then we add a lobster.
Lobster, with shell on.
Thank you.
Mix that around.
Nice and coated.
Then the deglaze sauce.
>> That's a lot of sauce, buddy.
>> MING: Yeah, it is.
(pan sizzling) Look at that.
So now, this lobster's kind of gonna poach in this sauce.
And we're gonna just bring this to a nice simmer, we're going to add this part, which takes a little bit less time to cook.
>> That's beautiful.
>> MING: We're gonna let this cook down.
It's going to be about three minutes reduction.
>> And no cover, just... >> MING: No cover.
>> Open the whole way.
>> MING: Nope.
So, three minutes, we're going to have lemongrass fried rice and garlic pepper with lobster.
Stick around, it'll be worth it.
All right, Jonathan.
So three minutes, I remove the lobster.
Gonna monter au beurre.
>> Um, amount?
>> MING: Okay, yeah, I put a whole bunch in.
And, you guys, don't be scared.
Just walk that extra mile.
You need that much butter.
Why?
Because that's where the flavor's at.
All right, I'm going to leave you here.
>> That smells great.
>> MING: You keep going on that, sir, I'm gonna plate this up.
>> You got it.
>> MING: So here I have my fried rice.
Save a side on each end, okay?
Because I want to see the sauce.
See it, Jonathan?
A little crispiness?
>> You know, that's the national dish of San Francisco, is crispy rice.
>> MING: Oh, there you go.
Look at that, that's perfect.
So the butter's all incorporated.
We add the lobster back in.
>> Beautiful.
>> MING: So I will take over, thank you.
That's fantastic.
>> Want me to cut the lemon?
>> MING: Yeah, give me a lemon, please, and some tomatoes there.
>> There you go.
>> MING: All right, just a little bit.
Like that.
Just, just the juice of half a lemon.
>> There you go.
>> MING: Thank you, sir.
Yeah, thank you.
Oh, my God.
I think we're in.
I think we're in.
So excited for you to try this, Jonathan.
Scallions on top, sir.
>> Got it.
>> MING: So, again, this is two lobsters' worth.
This is country plating.
Put it on the rice like this.
And I love this because it's so easy to eat.
You don't need a bib.
All the lobster pops right out of the shell.
All the work's done for you.
This is, should be how to do it.
>> And it's amazing how these ingredients just are perfectly harmonious.
Look at that.
>> MING: Okay, lobster like that, and then sauce it.
>> I gotta have some of the sauce, I'm sorry, dude.
>> MING: All right, you go in.
Sauce like that.
All right.
And a little bit of your perfectly cut scallions.
That is garlic-black pepper lobster.
>> Beautiful.
>> MING: Let's go eat.
Lobster and chicken, come on!
Mr. Waxman, I'm humbled and honored... >> Mr. Tsai, here you go-- oh, thank you.
>> MING: ...to serve you some garlic-black pepper lobster.
>> I'll take a little bit more rice there, buddy.
>> MING: Okay, sorry!
>> And some knuckles there.
>> MING: There you go.
>> Thank you.
>> MING: You're quite welcome.
>> And here's some chicken.
>> MING: Yes!
>> And you're going to need some veg and sauce.
There you go.
>> MING: Thank you.
>> I'm just gonna-- there.
>> MING: Oh, yeah.
>> A lot more sauce.
Boom.
>> MING: Oh, my God, it's amazing how moist the breast meat is.
>> It's amazing how the black pepper just zings right through without overpowering everything.
But you know what?
All the ingredients together, but I think it's that secret sauce.
>> MING: Dude, this thing?
First of all, incredibly moist.
What a great dish.
Dude, you are a master.
I love having you here.
>> I love being here.
>> MING: One day, I'm gonna be Jonathan Waxman when I grow up-- that's my goal.
Thank you, man.
>> Thank you, Ming.
>> MING: We will see you soon.
>> Love you.
>> MING: Can't wait to cook for you again.
And thank you all for watching, hope you learned something.
And as always, peace and good eating.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
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