MICHAEL: Today I have the Japanese Nashville influenced Sando, our most popular item here at Wooboi.

SETH: Well, I like any kind of fried chicken.

Is this going to be spicy?

MICHAEL: It's up to you.

So we have six different spice levels, but for today, we're going to just be making the level two for you.

SETH: Level two.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

SETH: But I imagine even that's going to probably pack a little bit of a punch.

MICHAEL: Yeah, that's about a jalapeño level, maybe 100,000 scoville units.

SETH: All right.

I think I can handle that.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

SETH: So tell me about this chicken here.

MICHAEL: Our chicken here is brining in a karaage type brine.

What we add here is shio koji, sake, mirin, salts, and different Japanese spices and some buttermilk.

You'd like to have these nice mellow flavors.

And then we pack a punch on the outside with this Nashville seasoning.

This is our, what we call it, the love sauce right here.

SETH: The love sauce.

I kind of like that.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

So this is a blend of four different peppers that we use.

It includes jalapeños, cayenne, different Ethiopian spices.

This is a mixture of smoked peppers, and this is a lot of sweet peppers.

SETH: And so if level two is jalapeños, what's level six?

MICHAEL: Oh, level six.

Oh, trust me, you don't want to mess around with that.

That's Carolina Reaper.

You got Komodo Dragon, you got Trinidad Scorpion.

SETH: Well, you're throwing a lot of scary names at me, so I'm glad that we're sticking with level two here.

MICHAEL: Yeah, you're going to enjoy this one.

So now, I have the mixture of salt, sugar.

This is some onion powder here.

We have a mixture of a secret spice blend.

SETH: There's a lot of flavor going onto the inside and outside of this chicken.

MICHAEL: Absolutely, absolutely.

We don't mess around over here.

So what we're going to do is, we're going to separate this in two separate bowls.

And half of this spice we're actually going to put away, and the other half we're going to make our actual love sauce.

SETH: So this sauce is just oil that's been infused with more flavors on top of what we already have.

MICHAEL: Exactly.

We're looking for almost like a nice shiny red.

SETH: Because when I think of Nashville chicken, it's like I think of the heat, but I also think of the color of that bird.

MICHAEL: Exactly.

I mean, it's the most beautiful color.

Because it's Nashville and because we're talking about spicy chicken, we have to make a nice refreshing slaw.

SETH: And this is just cabbage?

MICHAEL: This is just a cabbage.

And what we're going to do is, we're going to first add some red onions here.

Now we're going to add some sauce here, a little bit of vinegar.

This is just a little bit of salt.

Now we're just going to add a little bit of sugar.

And last but not least, we have our seasonings.

This is more, this is like straight South Carolina slaw right here.

SETH: All right.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

SETH: You're just bringing influences from all over.

MICHAEL: Exactly.

I like to use the best of the best here.

And then we give this a good hand mix here.

What you're looking for is a really nice contrast of textures.

You want a nice sweetness.

Now that our slaw is done, we are going to go ahead and fry our chicken.

SETH: Awesome.

MICHAEL: And while that's frying, we are going to go ahead and cook our bread.

When our chicken is done, we are going to dip it right into the love sauce, and then we are going to spice it in that reserve seasonings.

So now we are ready to make that sandwich.

We're going to go ahead and add our comeback sauce.

This is our signature sauce over here.

It's so good, it makes you comeback.

We put our beautiful slaw that we made together.

Pickles, the bun on top, and then wrap it up like a baby.

That's our Sando.

SETH: Michael, this thing is an absolute monster.

Look at the size of this.

MICHAEL: Yeah, this is it.

This is what we've been working really passionately on, trying to make the perfect chicken sandwich.

I'm ready to see your reaction.

SETH: Well, it's got the color, it's got that Nashville hot chicken color.

MICHAEL: Right.

That little darker than Ferrari red color.

SETH: All right.

I'm going for it.

MICHAEL: So that chicken's nice and crispy on the outside.

It's really juicy on the inside.

The outside breading is very thin.

What we want is a really nice, almost like a grilled chicken.

That's what we're going for.

SETH: Well, you got it.

That is everything I'm looking for in a fried chicken sandwich.

MICHAEL: Thank you.

Thank you.

SETH: Packed with flavor from top to bottom.

MICHAEL: It's like a super strong punch like in the face, but nothing's overpowering.

You know, you have the perfect balance.

SETH: And the flavor of the comeback sauce, it's terrific.

But I see all these other sauces here as well.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

So at Wooboi, we have six different sauces.

My personal favorite being the somi sauce there named after my dog.

It's a cilantro lime based mayonnaise sauce.

SETH: It'll maybe help cool down the bite a little bit too.

MICHAEL: Yeah, exactly.

Pretty good, huh?

SETH: That's just outrageous.

And I will say, for level two, it takes a moment, but those jalapeños start to catch up with you a little bit.

MICHAEL: They do.

And at Wooboi too, this is only a level two, right?

We have a three.

We've got a code red and we've got a code blue.

And over here, I have a chicken nugget.

As you can see, it has the blue toothpick here.

This right here is the code blue.

It's just one little chicken nugget.

And I want you to try it.

You can't leave without trying the code blue.

SETH: Oh my god, man.

You're going to make me do this on camera.

(laughing) MICHAEL: Don't worry, we got a lot of water in the back.

So you know, whatever you need.

You see all these signatures here?

It's all the, I guess the victims who tried the code red and the code blue.

SETH: Well, if they all managed to survive, I guess why can't I?

MICHAEL: Yeah, you can do it.

SETH: All right.

It's just one little nugget.

How bad can it be, right?

MICHAEL: Yeah.

Seth, now you're holding right there the hottest chicken in the world.

SETH: Let's try it.

♪ ♪ Michael, you were not messing around.

MICHAEL: Not messing around.

SETH: I instantly regret the decision, but this was all so good.

It's hot.

MICHAEL: It's not bad.

SETH: It's hot, man.

It's hot.

I need some water, badly.

Oh my God.

MICHAEL: It's a slow burn too.

It gets worse.

It lasts about 10 minutes though, so it's okay.

SETH: It's legitimately painful.

MICHAEL: Right.

SETH: But this was fantastic.

Thanks Michael.