PAUL: Well, today we're making our signature sandwich, the Chicky Pep No.

2.

It's kind of like a chicken cutlet.

Imagine like a chicken parm, but like, let's turn it up to 11.

SETH: All right, rock and roll.

How are we getting started here?

PAUL: The most important thing some people may say is the pepperoni bolognese that what we call here is "pep bolo".

We're getting started.

We're going to let some olive oil come up to temp.

We're going to do some chopped onion, about one onion.

Now you hear that good sizzle going on there.

(sizzle) So now that we have the onions a little translucent, we're going to add some garlic.

SETH: Oh, yes.

PAUL: Oh, yeah.

Garlic, there's a lot of recipes out there that you look at and they're like, "Add two cloves."

But I like to multiply that by 10, right?

SETH: Just add the whole bulb, why not?

PAUL: Why not?

And we're letting it get a little bit aromatic now.

As soon as you see the garlic start to brown a little bit, we're going to add some fennel.

SETH: Ooh, yeah.

PAUL: I love fennel.

SETH: A little bit of heat going in here too?

PAUL: Yeah, a little bit of crushed red pepper.

SETH: If I go to a Pizza Hut or a Shakey's Pizza, if I see a little glass jar of hot pepper flakes, I'm just dumping those on.

PAUL: Yeah, the parmesan is going in for sure.

The red pepper all on top of that.

And now that we smell it getting a little bit aromatic, we're going to add some pepperoni to it.

So commonly in bolognese, you see like, veal, beef, pork, and very little tomato.

So maybe it's not so traditional, but we wanted it to be kind of not traditional.

We're letting the pepperoni render down a little bit.

You're getting some of that fat, which is going to make it oh so delicious.

We're going to add some tomatoes.

And right, you've got some bay leaves.

I'm going to throw them in right now.

SETH: They just look so pretty on top.

PAUL: They do.

And then we're going to add a little bit of chicken stock.

We're going to turn it down, and we're going to let it simmer.

This will probably cook down for about 30 minutes, just like Nonna would make in the old country.

And while we have the simmering, what we're going to do is we're going to make our chicken cutlet.

So why don't you follow me down here, and we'll make some cutties.

SETH: All right.

Starting with, looks like we have a little chicken thigh right here.

PAUL: We do.

Pounded out chicken thigh.

We are strong believers in the chicken thigh for the cutlet.

I love the fat content.

We call these Nonna's Cutlets.

I think it's an ode to obviously Sherra's grandmother, but also this is our kicked-up version of Shake and Bake.

SETH: All right, but deep-fried instead of baked.

PAUL: Correct.

Always better that way.

So we're going to start with egg and then move into our seasoning.

Okay.

So get it nice and covered.

We're going to put it in our breading.

So it's Italian breadcrumbs, a little bit of parmesan, garlic, oregano, onion.

And lastly, we put in our secret ingredient here, which is MSG.

SETH: Ooh.

And you know, when I was a kid, MSG got such a bad rap, but I think we all know now just make sure food tastes even better.

PAUL: Yeah.

Delicious umami kind of flavor going on.

We're going to go ahead and drop these down.

We're going to fry these at 270.

SETH: And 270, that's pretty low for deep-frying, right?

PAUL: Correct.

But what we want is to cook them all the way through, but we don't want to fry them fully because we're going to finish them to order.

So Seth, this is going to par-fry for about five more minutes.

After these are fried, we're going to let them rest.

And then we're going to fry them again, but at a higher temperature.

While our cutlets are resting, we're going to finish our pep bolo.

This includes taking the bay leaves out and fortifying with butter, and then we're going to blend it with an immersion blender.

Our cutlet's gonna get some of that pep bolo that we just made, and then it's going to get topped with mozzarella and provolone.

It goes in the oven.

Then we're going to prep the bread.

It gets a nice lacquer of clarified butter, and then that gets our OG breadstick dust: garlic, parsley, onion, salt.

Then we're hitting that with a butane blowtorch.

(blowtorch hissing).

To the inside, we add our anchovy mayo.

It's legitimately anchovy paste, garlic, and mayo.

It's a bomb of umami.

So once the cutlet, pep, and cheese is done, we take it out, and we're going to add it to our sandwich.

Then we're going to top it with a little long hots.

We roast those in olive oil with a little bit of salt, and we hit with a little bit of the torch.

And that, my only friends, is the Chicky Pep No.

2.

SETH: All right, guys.

This sandwich is a mess, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

It looks like it's overflowing with flavor.

What are we drinking with it?

SHERRA: Yeah, so this is our crystal clear rum and cola.

So I don't know if you are as big of a fan of the '90s as Paul and I. SETH: Oh, I certainly am.

SHERRA: Yeah, we were sort of obsessed with the idea of the clear craze.

(record scratch) SETH: Hey, real quick, you all remember the clear craze, right?

♪ HAGAR: Right now, hey, it's your tomorrow.

♪ SETH: Oh, the best.

And Crystal Pepsi has been off the market for a good couple of decades here.

How are we getting our crystal cola?

SHERRA: Surely has.

This is made with a special blend of essential oils.

We took Coke apart and tried to identify all of the flavors that we could.

So we blend them into a syrup, add some acid phosphate, and a little bit of lime.

And we are using Cihuatán Rum, which is an El Salvadoran rum and carbonated here in-house.

SETH: All right.

Cheers to that.

All right.

Well, be still my 12-year-old heart.

I can hear the Van Halen music playing in my head.

SHERRA: You and me both.

SETH: But Chicky Pep No.

2 time?

PAUL: Let's go.

SETH: All right.

Digging right in.

Oh, wow.

All right.

Just a 10 out of 10.

PAUL: Oh, wow.

SETH: Warm and delicious.

Those pepperoni flavors and all that cheese is complimented also so nicely with those roasted peppers on top.

This is an adult sandwich.

So, a little mix of nostalgic flavors, a little heat, and it goes great with the cocktail.