>> MING: This week on Simply Ming we're on the road in California.

I love all the local markets-- this one's in San Mateo's Bay Meadows-- fantastic produce and fruit.

Going to be a special day.

We get to see Kenji Lopez-Alt, one of my favorite chefs.

He's gonna be actually showing me how to make kimchi with spaetzle.

It's so good, dude!

It really taste like kimchi meets sauerkraut.

But first, we're gonna stop off at The Sea by Alexander's Steakhouse to try some awesome sashimi.

Then I'm gonna take Kenji's same kimchi and make a pork kimchi scallion pancake.

All right, give me your scallions there, buddy.

Cover it with your scallions.

Gotta have scallions in scallion pancake.

We're on the road, and it's all coming up, right now on Simply Ming.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> MING: Hey, Kenji-san.

>> Hey, Ming!

>> MING: What's up, brother?

Nice to see you.

Oh my God, it's been too long.

>> Like, yeah, a decade and a half.

>> MING: Has it been that long?

>> I mean you look exactly the same as last time.

Asian genes.

>> MING: Yeah, congrats on all your success.

So, The Sea?

>> Yeah, let's do it.

>> MING: All right, let's check it out.

>> Have a good time.

>> MING: I'm so psyched.

I hear great things about this restaurant.

>> Yeah, yeah, so Yu Min, he's a Chinese chef, but he does sort of modern Japanese fusiony California French type of stuff.

>> MING: Awesome, beautiful restaurant.

>> There he is.

>> MING: Hey chef, Ming Tsai.

>> Nice to meet you, chef.

>> How's it going?

Good to see you.

>> Long time.

>> MING: Dude, we are so excited to try your food.

So you're Chinese from China or Taiwan?

>> Taiwan.

(both speaking Taiwanese) >> MING: But you have a lot of Japanese influence.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: You worked there?

>> In Japan for two years.

And also sushi chef in Asia for ten years.

>> MING: Wow.

>> Yeah, and then I came to USA, so learn some French cooking.

So now I have a little bit half and half.

>> MING: Yeah, east-west.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: We love it.

All right, we're starving, shall we eat?

>> Absolutely.

>> MING: All right, let's go.

Yu Min, thank you, man.

Thanks for having us here, man.

>> All right.

>> MING: So psyched.

Oh... look at this.

Wow!

Beautiful.

So what do we have here?

(speaking Taiwanese) Sit down, join us, please.

>> Thank you.

What do we have here first?

>> So we have the sea urchin from Fort Bragg.

We just serve with... simply.

Just a champagne glaze, tomato, and served with rice... a seaweed cracker and the... >> MING: A champagne glaze, but is that a bisque?

You made an uni bisque?

>> (stammering): No, we just torched the sea urchins... >> MING: Right.

>> ...and then cook in the champagne.

>> MING: Wow.

And what is that there, chef?

>> Also this is local black cod.

We marinated in miso, and then we broil in the broiler.

With a lobster and miso sauce, and some rice... rice cake.

>> MING: Chef, kanpai.

Xiexie, huh?

>> Thank you.

>> MING: Please.

Cheers.

Kanpai, Kenji.

Oh, that's good.

That's nice and dry.

And what is this chip, chef?

>> That's made from seaweed, I thought just do a seaweed only diet.

You know, we do have... >> Seaweed and what's the starch in here?

>> Rice.

>> Rice.

>> MING: Seaweed and rice.

>> Yeah.

So, local, there's a lot of people, they want gluten-free.

So we came out with this idea with... >> MING: Wow!

>> ...rice chips, yeah.

>> MING: That is so good, chef.

It is super creamy, bisque-like texture with the... And I love the acidity of the tomatoes-- that totally cuts through the fat.

>> Balance it a little bit.

>> MING: Sorry, I'm gonna double dip, guys.

>> And it's champagne?

Is that where... like there's some sweetness in there, is that at all from the tomato and champagne?

>> From tomato and champagne.

You know, mostly grapes that make champagne they still have that sugar content into it, so we don't add sugar at all, it's just from champagne and tomato.

>> MING: Oh my God, chef, that's delicious.

All right, I'm going in here.

I love black cod.

>> We buy just straight from fisherman.

>> MING: I mean, black cod's one of the most buttery fish, right?

>> Yeah, it's called butterfish.

>> MING: Yeah, butterfish.

Um, but your miso, that... it makes it sweeter.

It's unbelievable.

>> Also there's a sake... we use a sake base to make that miso sauce as well so it matches the sake pretty well.

>> MING: Oh man, that is delicious.

I can see why you've been here so long.

(Yu Min chuckles) >> Thank you, chef.

>> MING: Really, such delicious food.

Kenji-san, we get to go cook.

>> Yes.

>> MING: By the way, if you're in Palo Alto, come check out Yu Min at The Sea, you're gonna get delicious food like that.

We're gonna go to Wursthall.

We just went from the best to the Wurst!

(chuckles, imitates drum sting) Stay with us.

>> Never heard that... ♪ ♪ >> MING: All right, Kenji, we're at Wursthall, I'm so excited.

But you're gonna start us off with a quick cocktail before we get to cook?

>> Yeah, a beer cocktail.

>> MING: Let's hear it.

>> It's actually a michelada, so we're gonna do like a slightly... michelada with some Korean flavors in it.

>> MING: Right, and a classic michelada, which I've had in Mexico, right?

>> Yeah, classic michelada will be lime juice or lemon juice, and then some kind of hot sauce.

Usually hot and sour so there might be tamarind... >> MING: Don't they add a little Worcestershire too maybe?

>> Sometimes Worcestershire, sometimes they'll use tajin, that... that chili with lime on it.

>> MING: Yeah, oh, I love that.

>> Yeah, you can get all kinds of stuff.

>> MING: So it's a good hangover drink I've heard.

>> Yeah, it's like a beer mixed with a Bloody Mary.

>> MING: Exactly!

Can I do anything for you?

>> Yeah, yeah, let's start by... we're gonna rim the juice... the glasses with some lemon.

>> MING: Okay.

All right.

And what, what's all going to go in here?

>> So we got this powdered mix here.

So this is equal parts gochugaru, which is the Korean chili flake.

A little more flavor than heat.

Yeah, equal parts gochugaru, sumac, which gives us that tartness.

>> MING: Love it.

>> And salt and then a little bit of sugar in there as well.

>> MING: Good looking.

>> All right, now you can add a dollop of gochugaru.

Sorry, gochujang, which is the fermented wheat and chili paste.

>> MING: This is... this is like the heart and soul of Korean food.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: Right?

I love it.

That's a good amount, right?

Yeah, as much or as little as you want.

This is our house fermented... we ferment Fresno chilies and puree them so it's basically just fermented chil... Fresno chilies pureed.

It's hot, so you can add as much or as little as you want.

>> MING: Here's some lemons.

>> Yeah, then we'll just squeeze some lemons in.

>> MING: I love this!

This is very refreshing.

>> Very easy, also.

WAYNE: And what kind of beer are you using?

>> This is Czechvar.

So you want, you want something light, like a light lager.

>> MING: Light lager.

Awesome.

>> Czechvar, which is... what I believe, I think that company eventually split up and turned into Budweiser?

I think something like that.

(Ming chuckling) >> MING: Don't even know what you're talking about, Kenji.

(Ming laughs) >> All right, lemon juice, let's get some ice.

>> MING: Love it.

It's ama... and you know, and you need, you need ice with this beer cocktail.

Normally, you wouldn't have ice.

>> Yeah, ice and beer... Ooh.

Make a mess.

>> MING: You're good.

Oh, that looks so good.

And then get your spoon and kind of mix it with the bottom?

>> Yeah, you can do it how you want.

You know, like normally, you know, the way I've had it in various places in Mexico and Colombia, they just pour the beer in and you can drink some sips off the top, which are nice and fresh, and then they get hotter and hotter.

But we can also just stir it up, if you want.

>> MING: All right, we get to go cook now, right?

>> We're gonna cook, yeah.

>> MING: What's your dish?

>> Also simple.

It's gonna be kimchi spaetzle.

So we're um... we're making a German-style spaetzle.

And then we're gonna cook it in the style of tteok-bokki.

So the rice cake kimchi dish.

It's like Korean home cooking.

>> MING: All right, my friend.

Congrats.

>> Cheers.

>> MING: Congrats to Wursthall.

Cheers.

Oh, that is so good, dude.

Spicy, savory, tart, refreshing.

>> Yeah, it's a good thing I'm hungover.

(both laughing) >> MING: All right, we're gonna cook, right?

>> All right, let's do it.

>> MING: All right, let's go cook.

All right, Kenji.

>> All right, yes.

>> MING: What's your dish, man?

>> So we're gonna make a kimchi spaetzle.

So we're making, like, a German-style spaetzle cooked as if it's tteok-bokki, which is a... the Korean dish.

It's home-style cooking made with rice cakes and kimchi.

>> MING: Let's go.

That's just amazing.

you're combining...

I mean, Wursthall, right?

I mean, this is Germanic, right?

>> I mean this is all...

I grew up watching your show when I was in high school, so... >> MING: I didn't do a lot of spaetzle though.

That's amazing.

All right, so what goes into it?

>> All right, so we've got about a cup of flour.

Five ounces of flour.

>> MING: All-purpose?

>> All-purpose flour.

Yep.

We're gonna do a big handful chives here.

>> MING: Pretty easy dough, right?

Yes, this is the easiest homemade pasta you can make.

So it's not quite a dough, it's not quite a batter.

It's sort of somewhere in between is the consistency you're going for.

But, you know, start to finish, you're going to see it.

Start to finish, it's like a five-minute... five-minute dish.

Yeah, so we've got our flour, black pepper, salt, chives mixed together.

We're gonna add a couple of eggs.

>> MING: Okay.

And you don't even need an electric mixer, right?

>> No.

If you want to go fancy you can do two separate bowls for your wet and dry ingredients.

But, um... no, you could just mix it all together.

>> MING: And that's milk?

>> A quarter-cup of milk we're gonna add.

>> MING: Okay, here, your flour, you keep going.

I don't want to ruin... And then you just keep adding till it's right?

>> Yeah, so... >> MING: Which I know people hate that.

What does he mean "it's right"?

Well, when it feels right, right.

When you can actually work with it.

>> Yeah, so like I said, so this is gonna be, like, halfway between a batter and dough.

This is a little bit too sticky right now.

So you know, what we're gonna do is we're gonna make it on the spaetzle maker.

So we want the... we want the dough to be thin enough that it can, that it can kind of fall out of these holes.

So we're gonna add a little bit more... just a little bit more milk to here.

>> MING: Here's more flour, if you need, chef.

>> I think we're good on flour.

>> MING: And then so you don't... you don't do anything, but just let it rest.

>> That's about it.

>> MING: Just so it can fall through, right?

>> Yeah, so, ideally, you could let it rest even up to overnight.

It actually improves flavor a little bit.

All right, so I'm gonna hand you that.

>> MING: And boiling water.

>> Boiling water, yup, we're gonna add some salt to it.

>> MING: Just like sea water?

>> Yeah.

Actually, my, my friend did a test on this.

It's actually less than sea... seawater is about 6% salt.

>> MING: Okay.

>> Which is insanely salty.

We want... what we think of as seawater, which is actually way less than seawater.

And then we got our spaetzle maker here.

It clips onto the end of the board here, and then all you gotta do is, yeah, if you'll help me just fill up this hopper with a little bit of batter.

>> MING: Okay.

>> That's good.

And then I'm gonna just... back and forth like that.

>> MING: Awesome.

Lok how quick that is.

A little refill here.

>> If you're making a big batch, you can do... you could do this in batches.

You know, you don't have to cook it all.

>> MING: That's awesome.

>> There you go.

That's basically it.

>> MING: And so quick, right?

Yeah, I mean, they'll cook, they'll cook in a minute or two.

We'll wait till they all float.

So about maybe another 30 seconds.

And then from there, you'll see, we're gonna throw 'em right into an ice bath.

And one of the great things about spaetzle is that you can make it, make it ahead.

So you make a ton of it.

You can freeze it, toss it with some oil.

>> MING: And then you're searing this?

>> Yeah, we sauté it.

>> MING: I love it.

Dude, congratulations, New York Times writer.

That's huge!

>> Oh yeah, thanks.

>> MING: New York Times, that's a really, really cool thing that you're writing for.

>> No, it's fun, it's fun.

>> MING: And I read your thousand-egg test.

You literally, you literally tested 1,000 eggs?

>> We did that right here, yeah.

>> MING: And I love that steaming is the best technique.

>> Steaming is the best way to cook eggs, yeah.

>> MING: Steaming an egg-- and why is that?

>> Well, it's the best way to guarantee that the, the shell is going to separate from the egg, first of all, when you try and peel it.

It's also it's faster, more efficient than, you know, boiling a big pot of water versus just boiling an inch of water.

Especially in California, you know, with the drought.

>> Is there any latent heat going on because steam is hotter than water?

>> Uh... no-- well, so, so steam is... steam is not, is not gonna be hotter than boiling water.

It can get hotter than boiling water.

>> MING: It can though, right?

>> But... yeah, but in a pot, it's not really gonna get hotter than 212 degrees, yeah, because you don't have an external heat source that's heating just the steam after that.

>> MING: Got it.

It's so fast.

It's unbelievable, right?

It's like two minutes.

>> It's like, yeah, two minutes and it's done.

>> MING: And then you just chill it to stop completely.

>> Exactly, exactly.

>> MING: All right, so we're gonna drain this, and we're gonna pan sear it with some house made kimchi.

>> Exactly.

>> MING: Love it.

>> All right.

>> MING: Dude, that smells so good, can I try that?

>> Yeah.

>> MING: So tell me about this "Seoul-kraut."

>> Yeah, so this is an idea actually my sous chef Eric came up with, um, it's basically sauerkraut-- so white cabbage or green cabbage that's fermented like it was kimchi.

So we do actually a vegan kimchi.

So it's got some miso Korean chili flakes, salt, obviously... ginger, garlic.

>> MING (chuckling): It's so good, dude, it really tastes like kimchi meets sauerkraut.

>> Yeah, so it's got the crunch of sauerkraut, um... >> MING: Yeah, good, good acidity, but it's got the gochujang and... All right, so that's part of your dish?

>> Yeah that's the... a key part of the dish.

All right, so we're gonna do... kimchi in this.

>> MING: Awesome, so you're searing it to color or you're just heating it?

>> We're not.

No, no, we're just, we're just gonna add it.

We're gonna, we're gonna simmer it in some broth.

>> MING: And that's bone-- what kind of broth?

>> So this right here is mushroom broth.

You can do it with chicken broth.

You can do it with dashi.

Basically any kind of broth you want.

You can even do it with water if that's all you got.

And then we'll do, um... a little of the gochujang.

>> MING: So how do you have such Germanic influence in your food?

>> So my father is American, but his, his parents were German American, so western Pennsylvania.

>> MING: So how about all the Korean influence?

>> I just like it, you know?

I mean, same with the German, I just like it, I just like it.

You know, it's like watching your show.

It's like, you know... Who cares where the flavors are from?

>> MING: I do a lot of Alsatian specialties.

>> As long as they're good.

>> MING: That smells so good, dude, already.

>> I'm gonna drain my spaetzle now.

>> MING: Oh my God.

That smells so good.

(water draining) Yeah, and it's so good with this pasta because, like you said you could make, you could make just a ton... a ton for a party.

>> Right.

>> MING: Not worry about it and just reheat it.

>> Exactly, yeah.

>> MING: Smells so good.

I don't know if there is a simpler pasta.

>> No, it is, it really is the easiest, yeah.

>> MING: It's egg, water.

>> I mean you could buy dried pasta, I guess.

>> MING: Right, yeah, that's cheating.

>> Black pepper.

(twisting grinder) >> MING: Smells so good.

>> All right, so now we're just gonna let this reduce down a little bit.

>> MING: Okay.

That looks so good, dude.

I have to try too.

>> And that's pretty much it.

So now we're just gonna garnish.

So I got some cilantro.

>> MING: Right.

>> Little bit of cilantro, scallions.

>> MING: Love it.

Look how many aromatics that's going in here, right?

That's so important.

>> And then this is some black sesame and gochugaru.

More chili flake.

>> MING: More spice?

>> A little more spice.

Yeah, but you know all those Korean spices, like the gochugaru, the gochujang, they're not that spicy.

You know, it's not like Thai food.

>> MING: It's so true, nothing like a Thai bird chili or a habanero.

>> Yeah, exactly.

All right, so now we're gonna... And what I like to do...

So at the restaurant, at the restaurant we serve it with shrimp.

>> MING: Right.

What I like to do is actually serve it with these sous vide eggs.

>> MING: So sous vide egg you cook at what temp?

>> Yeah, so these are cooked for at 145 degrees for 43 minutes.

>> MING: Okay.

>> The trick I find to opening these is just make a little hole, a little door in the top.

>> MING: Right.

>> Then you can pour them into a separate container.

>> MING: I love that.

>> And then we can use a spoon to... Ooh, and it looks like I broke it already.

This why I don't work on the line.

(both laughing) >> MING: Dude, that is so awesome.

All right.

>> MING: Oh dude, I can't wait to eat that.

Such good looking dish.

That looks so good!

All right, before we sit down and eat this, will you be my sous?

>> Absolutely.

>> MING: We're gonna make a little pork scallion pancakes.

Stick around.

♪ ♪ I can't wait to eat that dish, dude.

I did try it, it's so good.

This kimchi rocks, dude, this Seoul-kraut, unbelievable.

So if I may, I'm gonna use some of this, I'm gonna make a scallion pancake.

But we're gonna fill it with some ground pork and your Seoul-kraut.

>> Nice, so like Chinese style.

>> MING: Chinese style.

We're going to start with a hot water dough, right?

And if you don't mind, slice me some scallions-- white and green, keep it separated.

>> Okay.

>> MING: Four cloves of garlic, and like a knob of ginger minced, please.

>> Got it.

>> MING: All right.

So I'm sure you've made this before, Kenji, right?

>> Yeah, absolutely.

>> MING: A little bit all-purpose flour.

And what you want to do is you add hot water.

Boiling, right?

And that starts basically to cook the flour.

And you just want to add enough water till the flour comes together.

As you know, when you work with it, it's pretty hot, right?

>> It is, yeah.

>> MING: So you have to knead it and let it sit.

All right, so Kenji, see now it comes together to like a ball, right?

>> And you want it to... it's like kind of sticking a little bit to the sides?

>> MING: Yeah, exactly, so a little bit sticky, which is what you want.

Then you got to use some bench flour, right?

Good amount.

And look how hot this is.

I mean you can just see the steam come off of that, right?

Knead it... (laughing): but don't burn yourself, right?

Because it's really hot.

You do want to let it rest for probably about five, ten minutes minimum.

I wouldn't go overnight because to your point, then it's not as easy to work with.

>> Right.

>> MING: So... but it's so soft and pliable right now.

So that's looking pretty good.

>> And the point of letting it rest is to... >> MING: Just to get a little more bite to it.

A little more...

In Chinese they say... (speaking Chinese) So that... that... the... it's like al dente in Italian, right, that mouth feel.

All right, so here's a bunch of beautiful ground pork that you guys grind here.

>> We do.

>> MING: And look how beautifully fat that is.

All right, so the hot water dough's gonna rest, I added this ground pork, please give me... the scallion whites here.

>> Yup.

>> MING: It's amazing, you can smell how good the pork is gonna taste.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

>> MING: Right, it has that real good pork smell.

So little bit of salt, a little bit of black pepper.

And we're gonna sear this and then I'm gonna add a little bit of your kimchi to this as well.

>> Am I slowing you down with this garlic and ginger, right now?

>> MING: You're not slowing me down, chef.

The reason I'm not concerned the garlic's not going in yet because this pork is still raw, right?

So I'm gonna cook this through.

So this is going to go about, I don't know, another five minutes or so.

And we're gonna make a little well.

We're gonna put your garlic and ginger in the middle, sear it off, and then chill it on a sheet tray so we can wrap up our scallion pancakes.

Guys, see how these pancakes are done Germanic style.

(Kenji laughs) Seoul-kraut.

>> Seoul-kraut.

>> MING: All right, Kenji, so it's important now this gets at least chilled to room temp.

Okay, and what I'm gonna do is... just wipe out this, we'll use this wok a third time.

Same wok.

>> MING: Same wok, yeah.

We'll get this nice and hot.

>> It is... woks are like by far the most versatile pan in the kitchen, I think.

>> MING: They're the best, right?

I so agree with that.

So here we have our dough.

I'm just gonna cut it in half.

'Cause we just don't quite need a cake that big, right?

It's important to have-- >> Can I feel this?

>> MING: Yeah, please.

It's really soft, right?

>> Yeah, it's like Play-Doh.

>> MING: It's so nice.

>> Nice and easy to work with.

>> MING (laughing): I hope...

I hope it tastes better than Play-Doh.

>> Play-Doh's pretty good, man.

I got a daughter.

I'm telling you, Play-Doh's pretty good.

Nice and salty.

>> MING: Good to eat?

>> Yeah.

(both laughing) I hope not.

>> She makes me Play-Doh pizzas.

>> MING: It's one of the worst things you could tell someone.

"Hey, this tastes like Play-Doh."

So it's important, see how it got stuck on me there?

So I'm gonna have to do more bench flour.

Cause what you don't want to do is stick, right?

And because it's so hot, it's so soft, it can stick right?

And the idea is, as you know, scallion pancake you want to be able to roll it, and make layers, right?

>> Right, it's like, it's like... it's like... it's not like a European-style laminated pastry, but it's laminated in its own way.

>> MING: It's like a strudel, honestly.

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> MING: Right, so here, sesame oil.

>> Okay.

>> MING: Grapeseed oil... Two parts grapeseed oil to one part sesame.

And I dip the oil all the way to the edges.

>> Oh you just go straight in with your hands.

>> MING: All right, give me your scallions there, Cover it with your scallions.

You gotta have scallions in scallion pancake.

>> How's that?

>> MING: Perfect.

I got your great kimchi.

All right, and bring me that pork, please.

So some of this pork's gonna come through the dough, which is okay, because that gets crisped up when you cook it.

>> Oh, nice.

So you... so it's intentionally gonna break a little bit.

>> MING: All right, here, my hand's already dirty.

And now we do our ground pork.

Oh, yeah.

So my grandfather used to make cheeseburger scallion pancakes because he was trying to Americanize us.

So he would make the traditional hot water dough and he would put ground beef with cheese.

>> Like American cheese?

Like slices?

>> MING: Slices, yes.

And he would roll these up like this.

>> Do you want a bench scraper for the bench?

>> MING: So you can tell it's nice and soft.

And pretty, delicate, right?

Some stuff's coming through.

So give it a couple more twists.

>> Okay.

>> MING: It gives you a few more layers, and then you have to then twist it around like this and underneath.

Then you have this... boom.

>> Uh-huh.

>> MING: And now this you roll out.

And again, more bench flour, because it's pretty moist, right?

>> Right, right, right.

>> MING: On both sides.

>> So and because you rolled it up like that you get these layers kind of already built in.

>> MING: Yeah, you get about eight to ten layers.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> MING: So now you see the pork coming out a little bit?

>> And that's, like, totally cool.

>> MING: That's totally cool.

>> All right.

What you do need is a hot wok with canola or grapeseed oil.

>> Scary whenever I see that much pork popping out of something, it scares me a little bit.

>> MING: Right, I fold this over so I can put this in, and then I can spread it back out like that and like that.

>> Nice.

>> MING: All right, so now you gotta go G, B, and D about five minutes a side.

>> Okay.

>> MING: We'll flip, and we'll be able to cut that up, a little bit of greens on top.

>> Sounds perfect.

>> MING: It's gonna be almost as good as Kenji's Seoul-kraut.

G, B, and D, baby.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: Right, Like about six, seven minutes a side.

Nice and delicate.

All right.

Now I'm gonna make a quick little vinaigrette.

>> Okay.

>> MING: We're gonna just do a little bit of mixed greens and watercress salad on top.

>> Delicious.

>> MING: Kind of like to... just a little bit of lightness and just a touch of your kimchi.

>> Nice.

>> MING: Right, a little lemon juice.

Like that.

Just a touch.

Just a smidgen of extra virgin olive oil.

All right.

Pepper me there, chef.

I will season it with salt.

Awesome.

Fantastic.

Take this, chef.

Just a little bit like that.

>> Nice.

>> MING: Oh yeah, baby.

Don't need to go fancy here.

Country food.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: All right.

A little bit of your scallions.

Chef, let's go eat.

>> Beautiful, yeah.

>> MING: On y va. >> MING: Kenji, can't wait.

>> All right.

>> MING: Thanks for the new egg, man, I gotta break into this.

>> I would never dream of serving a broken egg to Ming.

>> MING: Love this sous vide egg.

All right, baby.

>> I like to just kind of mix it in.

>> MING: Mix it in, a little housemade spaetzle with Seoul-kraut kimchi.

Oh, my God...

It's tart, it's spicy.

The spaetzle's a perfect texture.

>> Mm-hmm, it has that chewiness.

>> MING: It's got that bite to it.

So good for you.

And this is actually a vegan, right?

>> Well, without the egg.

>> MING: Without the egg, right, right, duh.

All right, let's see how we did here.

No wait, spaetzle has eggs.

Vegetarian, vegetarian.

>> MING: So it's vegetarian.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: Almost vegan.

>> This is vegan minus the pork.

>> MING: This is vegan minus the pork.

I gotta tell you... >> Mm... oh man.

>> MING: The reason this is so good is your kimchi.

>> I think, I think it's that you know when you're making it looks messy, but that's like actually the key.

Because you get all those little bits of scallions, and fried kimchi, and fried pork.

>> MING: Right, and you asked about the flour.

Flour caramelizes differently than that.

Dude, what beers do we have?

You have, like, how many beers?

>> We've got 32 taps, so... >> MING: Wow.

>> So, a little wine, mostly, mostly local, and some imported beers.

>> MING: So this is... >> This is a local Radler actually.

>> MING: A Radler, and what do you have there?

>> This is a... this is a hazy I.P.A.

Actually, it's not too hazy today.

But, yeah, it's a local I.P.A.

>> MING: Dude, congrats, and you have a new book, right?

>> I do, have a children's book coming out.

>> MING: What's it called?

>> It's called Every Night is Pizza Night.

>> MING: Because you have kids.

>> Because I have a daughter who loves pizza.

>> MING: I follow you, dude.

>> I wrote it for her, but I hope... >> MING: He's got one happy daughter, man.

She eats well, and I can see she cooks a little bit.

>> She cooks well, too.

>> MING: Yeah, just like my kids.

Dude, thank you so much.

>> Thank you so much.

>> MING: Your food is delicious, congrats on Wursthall.

Good luck, continued success.

>> Thank you.

>> MING: Good luck with all your writing.

>> It's been a dream for me.

You know, I gotta tell you, like, you know, I watched you growing up.

You used to visit the restaurants I worked at, so, you know, it's just been so nice having you here.

>> MING: Dude, continued success.

And, as always, thanks for watching.

Peace and good eating.

♪ ♪