Selena + Chef (2020) s01e04 Episode Script
Selena + Roy Choi
1
- Hi, Winnie.
Hi, I'm Selena Gomez,
and I love to eat.
Really, really love to eat.
But I'm not the best cook.
All righty.
That one's on.
I can't even
fix eggs properly.
So while I've been stuck
at home,
I thought,
"What better time
to improve my skills
in the kitchen?"
Okay, groceries.
So I've asked some of
the best chefs to school me.
Oh, wow, this is intimidating.
I already can tell.
They're at home,
I'm at home.
Oh, man.
This is a lot.
And we're gonna see if we can
make a meal together--apart.
Bit of a scary process.
I'm so nervous.
I'm tryin',
I'm tryin', I'm tryin' ♪
Oh, tryin', I'm tryin',
I'm tryin' ♪
With my feelings on fire ♪
- Roy Choi.
Ow.
- Hi, Roy.
- Hi, Selena.
- How's it going?
- Uh, you can see me?
I can see you.
- Today, I'm being taught
by an LA legend, Roy Choi.
He is the guy
who basically invented
the modern food truck movement
with his Korean barbeque
truck, Kogi BBQ.
Thank you so much
for doing this.
I'm so excited
to learn from the legend.
- I'm not a legend, but, uh,
I'm really happy to teach you
whatever I know.
I kinda designed today's food,
hopefully, to make you happy.
- Oh, nice.
- You know, I make tacos,
you're from Texas, so
We're cooking Korean barbeque
short rib breakfast tacos.
- Yum.
- So they're not really
Mexican, not really Korean.
They're, like, an expression
of our lives as immigrants.
And then we're gonna make
these Hawaiian doughnuts.
- Really?
Wow.
- Did you get all the
ingredients that we sent you?
- I did.
I got all of them.
A lot of them.
- Okay.
It looks intimidating,
but I swear it's easy,
because most of the stuff
happens in the blender.
- Okay, well, then, good.
Tell me what we're doing.
- The first thing is, you
gotta find the ingredients
for the marinade
for the short rib.
You're gonna need
to find soy sauce.
- Yup.
- An onion.
- Yup.
- A kiwi.
- Okay.
- Garlic cloves.
Green onions.
- Are those the long ones?
- Those are the long--
the long ones, yeah.
Then we need to get sugar.
- Okay.
- Sesame seeds.
- Check.
- And then short ribs.
- Got them.
- All right,
we're halfway home now.
- Okay, okay.
- Orange juice, sesame oil.
- Orange juice--what?
Sesame oil.
This is like an escape room.
- I know!
- Canola oil.
And then there's
something called mirin,
which is a sweet sake.
- Yes.
- Cool, so we're gonna make
the marinade first.
So do you have
a blender near you?
Over here.
Let's start with the marinade.
So pour in
1 cup of soy sauce.
And then we're gonna
go to the sesame oil,
which is, uh, 1/2 cup.
It's hard for me,
'cause I don't even
use recipes usually.
- Oh, wow,
so this is new for you.
- Yeah, with cooking,
it's always been easier for me
to just kinda freestyle
without having to follow,
like, a linear path,
kinda like being able
to do music
without reading notes.
- That's actually a very, um,
profound way to put it,
because sometimes
the best stuff is just in here.
It doesn't need
to be written down.
- Yeah.
So we're gonna pour in
the mirin, 1/2 cup.
4 tablespoons
of the canola oil.
- Is this weird for you too?
- No, I mean, it's not weird.
I'm just trying to get used to
being with you
without being with you.
- But I'm very awkward.
It's a learning process
for sure.
- Yeah, I'm kinda
socially awkward too.
I-I'm really good over text.
- Put in the sugar now.
- How much?
- Oh, man.
You're asking the wrong guy.
1/4 cup of sugar.
We're gonna do 1/2 cup
of the garlic.
- Oh, my gosh, really?
Wow.
I love garlic.
- And you remember
the long green onions?
Just do what's called, like,
a rough chop.
- All the way to the top?
- The whole thing.
Other than the stems.
- What are the stems?
- The hairy little things.
Okay.
- Cut a half an onion.
- Okay.
- Do kind of a rough chop
on that as well.
- Oh, whoa.
- Oh, you okay?
- Yeah, that was so scary.
I almost cut myself.
- Curl your fingers in a little
bit so you don't cut yourself.
- How many injuries
have you gotten?
- I've gotten a lot.
My worst one was
when I was on a date when
I was just in culinary school
and I was trying to show off.
I was slicing onions,
and then I sliced
pretty much half my thumb off.
We had to call the ambulance,
and they took me
to the emergency room.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, it was
a pretty horrible date.
Oh--oh, boy.
So the kiwi, you just slice
right down the middle.
And then what we're gonna do
is we're gonna get a spoon
and we're just gonna kinda
scoop it out like an avocado.
And you just throw that
right in.
So you just made
a Korean barbeque marinade.
- Yeah, I did.
- Yeah, you did.
Oh, we gotta put in
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds.
Sorry, I know.
My Nana gets on to me for
biting things with my teeth.
- All right, perfect.
So now what we're gonna do
is we're gonna blend it.
We'll go right on the blender.
♪
- How long?
- I don't know.
Let's see, um
That should be good.
- Okay.
- That's, like,
how my recipes read.
Like, how long
should you blend this?
Uh that's good.
- Oh, my gosh,
it smells amazing.
- We're gonna marinate
the meat now, okay?
- Okay, great.
- Put one layer on the bottom,
and then get some
of your marinade
and pour it over,
and then just kind of
push it into the meat,
and we'll keep doing that
till we run out of marinade.
- Oh, this feels so weird.
What are, like,
some of the things
you've been doing
during quarantine?
- We've been busy
feeding the streets,
folks that just got laid off
or lost their job,
or having a tough time.
They come through,
and we've given them a plate
of free tacos and water,
toilet paper when it was
crazy back then.
And we've been dropping off
a lot of food at, like, um,
clinics and hospitals.
- What a great way
to turn something you love
into a way to help people.
- Yeah.
So now just put it aside.
- Okay.
- And we're gonna move on
to the, uh, salsa verde.
Put 2 cups of oil
into a pan like this,
and turn the heat on to,
like, a low-medium.
- All righty.
- Put in 2 cups of garlic.
- Oh, wow.
This is a lot.
- Uh-huh.
You said you liked garlic.
- That's gonna smell.
- Then we're gonna take
the other half
of that onion that you had.
Like, rough chop.
Take, like, two or three
jalapeños,
depending on how spicy
you want it.
- I like it really spicy.
You wanna come see?
This is my Papa.
- Hi, Roy.
- Oh, hi, Papa.
- How you doing?
- My Papa and Nana only like to
be called "Nana" and "Papa."
- Watch your fingers.
You do like Roy,
you'll cut your finger.
- Thank you for bringing
that up, Papa.
Uh, curl your finger
on the next jalapeño.
- There--no.
- Curl--curl them in.
- Like--yeah.
- There you go.
♪
- Okay, I'm chopped up.
I'm good.
- There you go.
- Nice, Selena.
So now get a pan on the stove,
and turn it to, like,
a low-medium as well.
And we're just gonna put
a, like,
literally, like,
a drop of oil in there.
Just a dab.
- Oh.
He said a dab.
- That is a dab.
- That's--
I like Papa.
- Oh, yeah, everybody does.
- Okay, so then
we're gonna take these
and put that into the pan,
and we're gonna do
what's called charring.
That's where you get
that deep, roasted flavor.
- There you go.
- Papa trying to tell you
how to cook in here?
- No, I'm just a helper.
- He knows nothing
about the kitchen.
- This my Nana, by the way.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
- Hi, Nana.
Hi, I'm Roy.
So since you got your family
there--Kaelyn, come here.
I'll introduce you to my kid.
This is Kaelyn.
- Hi.
How are you?
- Good.
Wow, this is crazy.
- We're huge fans.
- Oh, it's so nice to meet you.
Thank you so much.
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm learning how to cook,
which I'm really not good at.
Please tell me
you're good at it.
- Oh, no, I'm trash at cooking.
- No way!
You just like--
you like other things?
- That's 'cause Dad is a cook.
- I know how to make
a sandwich.
- Yeah.
- That's basically it.
- That's perfect.
That's all I was
surviving on until now.
- I can relate to her.
- Okay, so
- Bye.
- While that's cooking, now
let's go back to the blender.
We're gonna make salsa roja
that we're gonna drizzle
over the taco.
Another cup of soy sauce.
- Keep going.
Getting better.
- All right, this whole time,
we can't be
backseat driving, Papa.
That's what his role is.
- He reminds me of that.
- 1/2 cup of sesame oil.
A cup of canola oil.
2 cups of rice wine vinegar.
- Oh, this smells so bad.
Oh, my gosh.
- It smells bad,
but it tastes good.
8 garlic cloves.
A 1/4 cup of sugar.
A 1/2 cup of gochugaru.
It's a Korean chili powder.
- Is it really spicy?
- No, not at all, actually.
It's really smoky
and delicious.
- It's like Tajín.
- Yeah, it's like Tajín.
Two green onions.
Again, rough chop
and throw it in.
We'll put some of those
sesame seeds as well.
Then we're gonna take, like,
a stalk of ginger.
And we gotta peel it.
- Oh, man.
- We're trying to get, like,
a 1/2 cup out of it.
Rough chop that ginger.
Oh, that's beautiful.
And I think that's it.
Better be it.
- Yeah?
- Yup,
and then we're
gonna just blend it up,
just like we did the marinade.
♪
- What about the ginger?
- Did you put the ginger
in there?
- I don't think so.
- Yeah.
She can't do
two things at once.
- We're gonna have to edit
some of these out
to make you look
like a good person.
- That's the great thing
about cooking.
There's no mistakes.
The mistakes are easy to fix.
- Not with her.
- Man, I need you
in my life, Papa.
I like the way you roll.
- You can have him.
- You're gonna wanna pour that
into something,
because we're gonna use
the blender one more time.
Okay, next thing we're gonna do
is we're gonna make
the cilantro-onion mix.
- Mincing.
Need to work on.
- And we're gonna mix that
with some lime juice.
We're gonna squeeze that
whole lime into the onion mix.
- Do you mind squeezing it
really hard?
Sorry, I have very weak hands.
I have lupus, so
- Okay.
- That's why I got Papa,
though.
- Yeah, that's why
you got Papa.
That's it, and then
we'll set it aside.
- Roy, are these okay?
They're pretty black.
- Oh, they're looking great.
So you can turn that off,
and you can turn
your garlic off as well.
- Okay.
- Do you have, like,
a Dutch oven pot
like this blue thing
back there?
- Yes.
- Okay, perfect.
So pour a grip of oil
in there.
Canola oil,
like, halfway full of oil.
And then turn it on, kind of
like a low-medium flame.
And then we'll come back to it,
'cause we're gonna fry
tater tots in that,
and then later, we're gonna
fry doughnuts in that.
Do you have a grill
or a grill pan?
- Yeah.
- Okay, get that on the flame.
- Actually, I'm gonna do
some maneuvering.
I love Korean barbeque.
- Do you eat it a lot?
- Yeah, but I have
to go and check out,
like, the good spots.
- Yeah, I'll definitely give
you a list,
but I don't know
how you're gonna eat
in some of these places, 'cause
you're gonna blow up the spot.
- People think
I'm way cooler than I am.
It's, like, nobody notices.
It's fine.
- She's boring.
- Yeah?
- I am.
One time I had two, like,
teenagers behind me,
and I was looking at cards
and stuff,
and I just had, like,
my hair up normal.
- Yeah.
- And I hear all of a sudden,
under her breath,
"That can't be Selena Gomez.
She's wearing UGGs."
I was, like, what?
- Wait, what?
- Anyway, so what's next?
- We're gonna grill the meat.
So let's take
a little bit of oil
and just put it
over the grill pan.
♪
And then we go
right onto the grill.
When you put
the first meat in there,
you should hear
a really good sizzle.
There we go.
It smells amazing, right?
- Yes.
- How long does it have
to cook?
- What we wanna do is cook it
till it gets real charred,
as dark and as charred
as possible
without it being burned.
Cooking is about feeling.
You can say all cooking, like,
six minutes on this side,
seven minutes on that side,
whatever, and that's cool,
but sometimes, it's, like,
cooking by feel.
You see that char?
You should have it
look like that.
This is amazing, what you're
cooking over there.
- I'm learning from you.
Oh, that looks so good.
- So the meat's off.
We're just gonna let
that rest.
Now let's go back
to the salsa verde.
So you remember those onions
and garlic that you had?
- Yeah.
- Put all of that into
the blender, including the oil.
- Sweet.
- Pour in 5 ounces
of orange juice
and 5 ounces of lime juice.
- Okay.
- Salt and pepper.
Take as much cilantro
as you have.
Just rip it up
and fill the rest of
the container with cilantro.
- How do people, like, look
graceful doing this on shows?
They're, like
- Let's just blend it.
♪
Wow, that's so beautiful.
Look at that color.
It should be really vibrant.
- Very pretty.
- So now what we're gonna do
is we're gonna come
back to the meat.
- All right.
- We have to just slice it up.
Kind of small strips.
- Oh, my gosh,
it smells so good.
- And then we're
just gonna put that
right back into the same
plate that you had it in.
- Okay.
- And the next thing we're
gonna do is
we're gonna take six eggs,
and we're gonna crack them
into a bowl.
There you go.
We're gonna get a fork.
We're gonna whisk them.
- I learned how to make
a French omelet,
and that was so intense.
- Oh, man,
I don't even wanna learn.
- Yeah, it's been a challenge.
- I think I know
who you learned it from,
and I don't--yeah.
I'm scared.
Okay, so we gotta kind of
Marie Kondo ourselves
a little bit here.
So let's get rid of everything
in front of you
except for the onion mix,
the salsa verde,
the salsa roja,
the short rib, the eggs,
the tater tots,
and the tortillas.
Let's go ahead
and fry our tater tots.
Just gently put those in there.
What you wanna do
is get these to, like,
about the same color
as your sweater.
- Epic.
- And while that's cooking,
let's toast some tortillas.
It's gonna be in that one pan.
- My grandma there taught me
to do it straight on the stove.
- Let's do it that way, then.
Let's honor your grandma.
Let's do it that way.
- Okay.
- Yeah, we just collab'd
on the recipe.
- My grandmother used
to make breakfast tacos
every single morning,
and my dad would take it
to his office and give the
whole office breakfast tacos.
They were so bomb.
- Well, that's what
we're gonna do here.
So I run taco trucks
here in the city.
We started by serving tacos
in front of the nightclubs
midnight or 10:00 p.m.
till like 4:00 a.m.,
when everyone got out
of the club.
- Genius.
- And so I wouldn't get home
until, like, 5:00 or 6:00
in the morning,
and Kaelyn,
who you met earlier--
she was only, like,
four or five when we started.
We'd have,
like, six hours together,
and we just watched
"Wizards of Waverly Place"
- Oh, gosh.
- Like, all day.
Like, on repeat.
And that was, like,
the early days of Kogi.
- I always say "thank you"
and "I'm sorry."
- Yeah.
- The stuff I put
parents through.
- Yeah.
- All right,
I think I got the tortillas.
- Tortillas are done.
Tater tots might be ready.
Go ahead and take those out.
- Okay, is that good?
- Yeah, perfect.
We call that, uh, GBD.
Golden brown and delicious.
If tater tots was a class,
you'd get an A.
- Whoo!
- So let's take some
of your omelet training
with that scary chef.
- Lower your heat,
lower your heat.
Lower the heat.
Go faster now.
Mix it.
Stop it now.
Take off of the fire.
Take it off.
- Okay--what?
- We're gonna put a little bit
of butter in that omelet pan.
- I'm not even gonna ask how
many calories are in this.
- Probably not that much.
- The more, the merrier.
- Put the eggs in there.
- Okay.
- Probably like the scary chef
taught you,
start shaking the pan
and then swirling the eggs.
I like giving that chef
a hard time 'cause I know him.
Yeah.
- And then turn your flame off.
Perfect.
This is the last step now
before we build,
and we're just gonna heat
some of that short rib again.
And then once that's just kind
of warmed all the way through,
I'm putting all of my
ingredients on one plate here,
just so that I have everything
right in front of me,
'cause I'm gonna start building
the taco now.
- Is lunch served?
- Almost.
- So just lay out
three tortillas,
put meat on the bottom first.
- Oh, my gosh.
- What is it?
You cut yourself?
- How?
- I don't know.
Let me get you
something for it.
- Wait, sorry.
- It's all right--first aid.
- I didn't even know, though.
- Medic!
- Yeah, sometimes
you get nicked.
That's a part of cooking.
- Yeah, I kinda feel
like a badass.
- You're a badass.
This is a badass
milestone moment for you.
♪
Take two tater tots
and break them up.
Oh, my gosh,
those look great, Selena.
- I'm gonna show my friend
really quick.
I've been telling
all of my friends
that I've been doing this.
Out of everything
I've done in my career,
it's, like, this is the most
outstanding thing I've done.
- Dude.
- Yo.
Look, I wanted to show you.
- Kaelyn.
- Oh, my God, what is that?
- It's a
- Korean barbeque
Texas breakfast taco.
- Look, my grandparents
are here.
- Hi, Tay, how are you?
- Hi, good to see you guys.
- But literally, I've just been
making all of this,
and then I think we're
making doughnuts next.
- If you don't send me
the recipe,
we're gonna have words.
I wanna be served that.
- This is Taylor.
Do you know my friend Taylor?
- Taylor Swift, right?
Hey, Taylor.
- This my best friend Taylor.
- Hi, guys.
- I'm Roy, this is Kaelyn.
Kaelyn's freaking out
right now.
- I'm very jealous
of your whole setup
and the fact that you guys
are cooking together.
It's--it's pretty great.
I'm really envious.
- Yeah, it's
her love language, I think.
- We can eat it
right in front of you, too,
to make you even more jealous.
I just wanted to show you
because I'm so proud.
- We wanna eat.
- My Papa's like, "Can we eat?"
- Papa wants to eat.
- But I'm so excited.
- Oh, dude,
I'm so proud of you.
- Thank you.
- Do you know how long
I've been waiting for you
to become obsessed
with cooking?
- A very long time.
- I love you,
and I see that you have
people that you have to serve,
so that's important.
Um, nice to meet you guys.
- See you later.
- Bye.
- Bye.
- Love you.
- Bye, Taylor.
- Bye, I love you.
- She's, like, my big
cooking person, so, like,
it's a very big deal that
I'm learning how to cook.
- She must be so happy
and proud of you.
- It's good for our friendship.
- Yeah, for your friendship.
It's like
learning golf together.
- Golf?
- I don't know.
See?
None of my jokes hit.
That plate could go
on a food magazine.
Look at that.
- Yeah!
- Time to eat.
- I can't wait to taste.
- It's all in there?
- So it's all done?
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- Mmm.
- Oh, my gosh.
- This is so delicious.
- It's got so much flavor.
- So good, right?
- So good.
Wow.
- I'll give it an eight.
- I was gonna say ten.
- No, you guys say
one through five.
- Five.
- You guys like it?
- Five, for sure.
- Oh, my gosh.
- But I give it a ten.
- I got a ten
on a scale of five.
That sounds good.
- Love it.
- I'm so honored.
I think what we're gonna do now
is just clean up,
and we're gonna make dessert.
- Okay.
- Ooh ♪
So what, I messed it up ♪
I said too much,
I pushed my luck ♪
So what, I scream too loud,
I fooled around ♪
- Now, doughnuts!
- Hey.
- Hi, Roy.
- Hi, we're back.
We're gonna do something fun.
We're gonna make
Hawaiian doughnuts,
but from biscuit dough.
This is, like, a hack
that I learned a long time ago
from my boss when I first
became a hotel chef.
He's from Hawaii.
He said this is how they grew
up making malasadas in a pinch.
Let's get
our ingredients first.
We gotta get these biscuits.
- My Nana uses these
to make chicken and dumplings.
- Yes.
- It's really yummy.
- So then we're gonna have
sugar, sesame seeds,
and cinnamon.
That's all we need.
Oh, I love
that sugar container.
Thanks.
- So first, what we wanna do
is mix about--
- I'm so sorry, Roy, I--
one second.
Hey, I have to call you back.
I'm cooking.
All right, bye.
Sorry.
- It's okay.
- Cute boy.
- That was a cute boy?
You could take the call.
- Shh, shh.
Uh, who--wha--
what am I doing?
I just got, like
- Distracted right then.
- I gotta go.
What do I do?
- You're cooking.
- I know, but, like
- He's waiting.
- So put 1/2 cup of sugar
in a bowl
And then about
2 tablespoons of cinnamon,
ground cinnamon,
and about a tablespoon
of sesame seeds.
- Roy?
- Yeah?
- I grew up on these.
My mom used to make these.
- The biscuit dough doughnuts?
- They were so good.
- That's awesome.
And then we're gonna open
our biscuits.
- Oh, now, I hate that part.
- I know, me and my Nana
hate this part
'cause it pops.
- Oh, 'cause it pops.
I don't think
I'm doing it right, let's see.
- Did yours pop?
- Uh, I'm trying.
I think you're supposed
to turn it, right?
- I don't like it.
- I know, I don't either.
- I know, I-I'm having
the same problem.
Oh, there--there we go.
Whoo!
There.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
- Let's just try one
as a test, drop it in there.
And as soon as you drop it,
the oil should be bubbling.
- Okay, it's definitely
not enough.
- Oh, that's not bad.
Just keep the flame on,
medium to high.
Kinda move it around
a little bit,
but keep it
that same side down.
As it's getting golden brown,
the rest of the doughnut
is gonna kinda puff up.
Oh, look at that.
- Yum.
- But see, this is
the only tricky part,
is you want the oil hot enough
that it creates bubbling,
but you don't want it too hot,
that it cooks the outside
with the inside still doughy.
- Yeah, I think I've had
that problem
throughout this whole journey
of cooking,
as learning the how
to control the temperature
and the flame and all of that.
- Just always remember,
if things are too hot,
you turn them down.
If things are not hot enough,
you turn them up,
and if you remember that,
then you're good.
So you see how the biscuit--
like, mine is starting
to puff up really nice.
You see that?
- Okay.
- It should look like
two big chipmunk cheeks.
It does, right?
- Yeah.
- Yours looks great.
- But see, my mom,
when she would make them,
she'd cut a center out.
- Oh, and really
make the doughnuts.
We should--let's honor
your mom, let's do that.
- Sure.
- This is great.
Thank you so much.
- Yours kinda looks good,
so take it out.
Then you wanna just toss it
in the sugar
while it's still hot.
And really, really coat it.
Cover it like you're covering
yourself up in sand
at the beach,
and then shake it off.
Speaking of Taylor.
Sorry.
- And then
that's your malasada.
Now we're gonna make
Mom's doughnuts.
Just cut the center out
like this.
- Okay.
This is thick.
Okay.
- How's your oil?
Is it too high?
- I don't think so.
- And then it's kinda, like,
the beauty moment
of just watching food cook.
- This is the worst thing
you could've taught me.
- Oh, doughnut?
- This one,
I'm gonna make every day.
- All day, every day.
And remember
the sugar technique,
sand pile at the beach.
- Oh, my gosh.
- What?
- It smells so good.
- I know it.
- Wow, look at that.
You got skills on plating.
That's for real.
- Thank you.
- Cheers, again.
- Okay, it's time to try one.
- Oh, my gosh.
They're so good.
- Wow, this is amazing.
- Aww, these bring back
memories.
My childhood memories.
- Mm.
- That's so sweet.
- That's dangerous.
These are unbelievable.
Rate these.
- Five.
- Papa?
- Five.
- Yeah!
I haven't gotten
a solid five out of five,
not on both dishes.
- Oh.
- So this is pretty epic.
So every episode
that I've been doing,
I've been donating $10,000
to a charity
of the chef's choice.
So I would love
for you to tell people
a little bit
about the one you chose.
- We are donating
to a farm in Compton
called Alma Backyard Farms.
So it's inner-city farming
that really helps the youth
and the neighborhood eat well
and learn about growing,
and bring some nature
into their lives.
- This will be great.
And obviously, people can
find out more about it and
- Yeah, right here.
- Exactly, wherever it will be
on the screen.
- Just click right here.
- Underneath.
Roy, thank you so much.
We honestly had the best time.
- Send me one
of your doughnuts.
I wanna try it against hers.
Take it.
- Nice meeting you.
- Nice meeting you guys, bye.
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.
- Hi, Winnie.
Hi, I'm Selena Gomez,
and I love to eat.
Really, really love to eat.
But I'm not the best cook.
All righty.
That one's on.
I can't even
fix eggs properly.
So while I've been stuck
at home,
I thought,
"What better time
to improve my skills
in the kitchen?"
Okay, groceries.
So I've asked some of
the best chefs to school me.
Oh, wow, this is intimidating.
I already can tell.
They're at home,
I'm at home.
Oh, man.
This is a lot.
And we're gonna see if we can
make a meal together--apart.
Bit of a scary process.
I'm so nervous.
I'm tryin',
I'm tryin', I'm tryin' ♪
Oh, tryin', I'm tryin',
I'm tryin' ♪
With my feelings on fire ♪
- Roy Choi.
Ow.
- Hi, Roy.
- Hi, Selena.
- How's it going?
- Uh, you can see me?
I can see you.
- Today, I'm being taught
by an LA legend, Roy Choi.
He is the guy
who basically invented
the modern food truck movement
with his Korean barbeque
truck, Kogi BBQ.
Thank you so much
for doing this.
I'm so excited
to learn from the legend.
- I'm not a legend, but, uh,
I'm really happy to teach you
whatever I know.
I kinda designed today's food,
hopefully, to make you happy.
- Oh, nice.
- You know, I make tacos,
you're from Texas, so
We're cooking Korean barbeque
short rib breakfast tacos.
- Yum.
- So they're not really
Mexican, not really Korean.
They're, like, an expression
of our lives as immigrants.
And then we're gonna make
these Hawaiian doughnuts.
- Really?
Wow.
- Did you get all the
ingredients that we sent you?
- I did.
I got all of them.
A lot of them.
- Okay.
It looks intimidating,
but I swear it's easy,
because most of the stuff
happens in the blender.
- Okay, well, then, good.
Tell me what we're doing.
- The first thing is, you
gotta find the ingredients
for the marinade
for the short rib.
You're gonna need
to find soy sauce.
- Yup.
- An onion.
- Yup.
- A kiwi.
- Okay.
- Garlic cloves.
Green onions.
- Are those the long ones?
- Those are the long--
the long ones, yeah.
Then we need to get sugar.
- Okay.
- Sesame seeds.
- Check.
- And then short ribs.
- Got them.
- All right,
we're halfway home now.
- Okay, okay.
- Orange juice, sesame oil.
- Orange juice--what?
Sesame oil.
This is like an escape room.
- I know!
- Canola oil.
And then there's
something called mirin,
which is a sweet sake.
- Yes.
- Cool, so we're gonna make
the marinade first.
So do you have
a blender near you?
Over here.
Let's start with the marinade.
So pour in
1 cup of soy sauce.
And then we're gonna
go to the sesame oil,
which is, uh, 1/2 cup.
It's hard for me,
'cause I don't even
use recipes usually.
- Oh, wow,
so this is new for you.
- Yeah, with cooking,
it's always been easier for me
to just kinda freestyle
without having to follow,
like, a linear path,
kinda like being able
to do music
without reading notes.
- That's actually a very, um,
profound way to put it,
because sometimes
the best stuff is just in here.
It doesn't need
to be written down.
- Yeah.
So we're gonna pour in
the mirin, 1/2 cup.
4 tablespoons
of the canola oil.
- Is this weird for you too?
- No, I mean, it's not weird.
I'm just trying to get used to
being with you
without being with you.
- But I'm very awkward.
It's a learning process
for sure.
- Yeah, I'm kinda
socially awkward too.
I-I'm really good over text.
- Put in the sugar now.
- How much?
- Oh, man.
You're asking the wrong guy.
1/4 cup of sugar.
We're gonna do 1/2 cup
of the garlic.
- Oh, my gosh, really?
Wow.
I love garlic.
- And you remember
the long green onions?
Just do what's called, like,
a rough chop.
- All the way to the top?
- The whole thing.
Other than the stems.
- What are the stems?
- The hairy little things.
Okay.
- Cut a half an onion.
- Okay.
- Do kind of a rough chop
on that as well.
- Oh, whoa.
- Oh, you okay?
- Yeah, that was so scary.
I almost cut myself.
- Curl your fingers in a little
bit so you don't cut yourself.
- How many injuries
have you gotten?
- I've gotten a lot.
My worst one was
when I was on a date when
I was just in culinary school
and I was trying to show off.
I was slicing onions,
and then I sliced
pretty much half my thumb off.
We had to call the ambulance,
and they took me
to the emergency room.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, it was
a pretty horrible date.
Oh--oh, boy.
So the kiwi, you just slice
right down the middle.
And then what we're gonna do
is we're gonna get a spoon
and we're just gonna kinda
scoop it out like an avocado.
And you just throw that
right in.
So you just made
a Korean barbeque marinade.
- Yeah, I did.
- Yeah, you did.
Oh, we gotta put in
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds.
Sorry, I know.
My Nana gets on to me for
biting things with my teeth.
- All right, perfect.
So now what we're gonna do
is we're gonna blend it.
We'll go right on the blender.
♪
- How long?
- I don't know.
Let's see, um
That should be good.
- Okay.
- That's, like,
how my recipes read.
Like, how long
should you blend this?
Uh that's good.
- Oh, my gosh,
it smells amazing.
- We're gonna marinate
the meat now, okay?
- Okay, great.
- Put one layer on the bottom,
and then get some
of your marinade
and pour it over,
and then just kind of
push it into the meat,
and we'll keep doing that
till we run out of marinade.
- Oh, this feels so weird.
What are, like,
some of the things
you've been doing
during quarantine?
- We've been busy
feeding the streets,
folks that just got laid off
or lost their job,
or having a tough time.
They come through,
and we've given them a plate
of free tacos and water,
toilet paper when it was
crazy back then.
And we've been dropping off
a lot of food at, like, um,
clinics and hospitals.
- What a great way
to turn something you love
into a way to help people.
- Yeah.
So now just put it aside.
- Okay.
- And we're gonna move on
to the, uh, salsa verde.
Put 2 cups of oil
into a pan like this,
and turn the heat on to,
like, a low-medium.
- All righty.
- Put in 2 cups of garlic.
- Oh, wow.
This is a lot.
- Uh-huh.
You said you liked garlic.
- That's gonna smell.
- Then we're gonna take
the other half
of that onion that you had.
Like, rough chop.
Take, like, two or three
jalapeños,
depending on how spicy
you want it.
- I like it really spicy.
You wanna come see?
This is my Papa.
- Hi, Roy.
- Oh, hi, Papa.
- How you doing?
- My Papa and Nana only like to
be called "Nana" and "Papa."
- Watch your fingers.
You do like Roy,
you'll cut your finger.
- Thank you for bringing
that up, Papa.
Uh, curl your finger
on the next jalapeño.
- There--no.
- Curl--curl them in.
- Like--yeah.
- There you go.
♪
- Okay, I'm chopped up.
I'm good.
- There you go.
- Nice, Selena.
So now get a pan on the stove,
and turn it to, like,
a low-medium as well.
And we're just gonna put
a, like,
literally, like,
a drop of oil in there.
Just a dab.
- Oh.
He said a dab.
- That is a dab.
- That's--
I like Papa.
- Oh, yeah, everybody does.
- Okay, so then
we're gonna take these
and put that into the pan,
and we're gonna do
what's called charring.
That's where you get
that deep, roasted flavor.
- There you go.
- Papa trying to tell you
how to cook in here?
- No, I'm just a helper.
- He knows nothing
about the kitchen.
- This my Nana, by the way.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
- Hi, Nana.
Hi, I'm Roy.
So since you got your family
there--Kaelyn, come here.
I'll introduce you to my kid.
This is Kaelyn.
- Hi.
How are you?
- Good.
Wow, this is crazy.
- We're huge fans.
- Oh, it's so nice to meet you.
Thank you so much.
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm learning how to cook,
which I'm really not good at.
Please tell me
you're good at it.
- Oh, no, I'm trash at cooking.
- No way!
You just like--
you like other things?
- That's 'cause Dad is a cook.
- I know how to make
a sandwich.
- Yeah.
- That's basically it.
- That's perfect.
That's all I was
surviving on until now.
- I can relate to her.
- Okay, so
- Bye.
- While that's cooking, now
let's go back to the blender.
We're gonna make salsa roja
that we're gonna drizzle
over the taco.
Another cup of soy sauce.
- Keep going.
Getting better.
- All right, this whole time,
we can't be
backseat driving, Papa.
That's what his role is.
- He reminds me of that.
- 1/2 cup of sesame oil.
A cup of canola oil.
2 cups of rice wine vinegar.
- Oh, this smells so bad.
Oh, my gosh.
- It smells bad,
but it tastes good.
8 garlic cloves.
A 1/4 cup of sugar.
A 1/2 cup of gochugaru.
It's a Korean chili powder.
- Is it really spicy?
- No, not at all, actually.
It's really smoky
and delicious.
- It's like Tajín.
- Yeah, it's like Tajín.
Two green onions.
Again, rough chop
and throw it in.
We'll put some of those
sesame seeds as well.
Then we're gonna take, like,
a stalk of ginger.
And we gotta peel it.
- Oh, man.
- We're trying to get, like,
a 1/2 cup out of it.
Rough chop that ginger.
Oh, that's beautiful.
And I think that's it.
Better be it.
- Yeah?
- Yup,
and then we're
gonna just blend it up,
just like we did the marinade.
♪
- What about the ginger?
- Did you put the ginger
in there?
- I don't think so.
- Yeah.
She can't do
two things at once.
- We're gonna have to edit
some of these out
to make you look
like a good person.
- That's the great thing
about cooking.
There's no mistakes.
The mistakes are easy to fix.
- Not with her.
- Man, I need you
in my life, Papa.
I like the way you roll.
- You can have him.
- You're gonna wanna pour that
into something,
because we're gonna use
the blender one more time.
Okay, next thing we're gonna do
is we're gonna make
the cilantro-onion mix.
- Mincing.
Need to work on.
- And we're gonna mix that
with some lime juice.
We're gonna squeeze that
whole lime into the onion mix.
- Do you mind squeezing it
really hard?
Sorry, I have very weak hands.
I have lupus, so
- Okay.
- That's why I got Papa,
though.
- Yeah, that's why
you got Papa.
That's it, and then
we'll set it aside.
- Roy, are these okay?
They're pretty black.
- Oh, they're looking great.
So you can turn that off,
and you can turn
your garlic off as well.
- Okay.
- Do you have, like,
a Dutch oven pot
like this blue thing
back there?
- Yes.
- Okay, perfect.
So pour a grip of oil
in there.
Canola oil,
like, halfway full of oil.
And then turn it on, kind of
like a low-medium flame.
And then we'll come back to it,
'cause we're gonna fry
tater tots in that,
and then later, we're gonna
fry doughnuts in that.
Do you have a grill
or a grill pan?
- Yeah.
- Okay, get that on the flame.
- Actually, I'm gonna do
some maneuvering.
I love Korean barbeque.
- Do you eat it a lot?
- Yeah, but I have
to go and check out,
like, the good spots.
- Yeah, I'll definitely give
you a list,
but I don't know
how you're gonna eat
in some of these places, 'cause
you're gonna blow up the spot.
- People think
I'm way cooler than I am.
It's, like, nobody notices.
It's fine.
- She's boring.
- Yeah?
- I am.
One time I had two, like,
teenagers behind me,
and I was looking at cards
and stuff,
and I just had, like,
my hair up normal.
- Yeah.
- And I hear all of a sudden,
under her breath,
"That can't be Selena Gomez.
She's wearing UGGs."
I was, like, what?
- Wait, what?
- Anyway, so what's next?
- We're gonna grill the meat.
So let's take
a little bit of oil
and just put it
over the grill pan.
♪
And then we go
right onto the grill.
When you put
the first meat in there,
you should hear
a really good sizzle.
There we go.
It smells amazing, right?
- Yes.
- How long does it have
to cook?
- What we wanna do is cook it
till it gets real charred,
as dark and as charred
as possible
without it being burned.
Cooking is about feeling.
You can say all cooking, like,
six minutes on this side,
seven minutes on that side,
whatever, and that's cool,
but sometimes, it's, like,
cooking by feel.
You see that char?
You should have it
look like that.
This is amazing, what you're
cooking over there.
- I'm learning from you.
Oh, that looks so good.
- So the meat's off.
We're just gonna let
that rest.
Now let's go back
to the salsa verde.
So you remember those onions
and garlic that you had?
- Yeah.
- Put all of that into
the blender, including the oil.
- Sweet.
- Pour in 5 ounces
of orange juice
and 5 ounces of lime juice.
- Okay.
- Salt and pepper.
Take as much cilantro
as you have.
Just rip it up
and fill the rest of
the container with cilantro.
- How do people, like, look
graceful doing this on shows?
They're, like
- Let's just blend it.
♪
Wow, that's so beautiful.
Look at that color.
It should be really vibrant.
- Very pretty.
- So now what we're gonna do
is we're gonna come
back to the meat.
- All right.
- We have to just slice it up.
Kind of small strips.
- Oh, my gosh,
it smells so good.
- And then we're
just gonna put that
right back into the same
plate that you had it in.
- Okay.
- And the next thing we're
gonna do is
we're gonna take six eggs,
and we're gonna crack them
into a bowl.
There you go.
We're gonna get a fork.
We're gonna whisk them.
- I learned how to make
a French omelet,
and that was so intense.
- Oh, man,
I don't even wanna learn.
- Yeah, it's been a challenge.
- I think I know
who you learned it from,
and I don't--yeah.
I'm scared.
Okay, so we gotta kind of
Marie Kondo ourselves
a little bit here.
So let's get rid of everything
in front of you
except for the onion mix,
the salsa verde,
the salsa roja,
the short rib, the eggs,
the tater tots,
and the tortillas.
Let's go ahead
and fry our tater tots.
Just gently put those in there.
What you wanna do
is get these to, like,
about the same color
as your sweater.
- Epic.
- And while that's cooking,
let's toast some tortillas.
It's gonna be in that one pan.
- My grandma there taught me
to do it straight on the stove.
- Let's do it that way, then.
Let's honor your grandma.
Let's do it that way.
- Okay.
- Yeah, we just collab'd
on the recipe.
- My grandmother used
to make breakfast tacos
every single morning,
and my dad would take it
to his office and give the
whole office breakfast tacos.
They were so bomb.
- Well, that's what
we're gonna do here.
So I run taco trucks
here in the city.
We started by serving tacos
in front of the nightclubs
midnight or 10:00 p.m.
till like 4:00 a.m.,
when everyone got out
of the club.
- Genius.
- And so I wouldn't get home
until, like, 5:00 or 6:00
in the morning,
and Kaelyn,
who you met earlier--
she was only, like,
four or five when we started.
We'd have,
like, six hours together,
and we just watched
"Wizards of Waverly Place"
- Oh, gosh.
- Like, all day.
Like, on repeat.
And that was, like,
the early days of Kogi.
- I always say "thank you"
and "I'm sorry."
- Yeah.
- The stuff I put
parents through.
- Yeah.
- All right,
I think I got the tortillas.
- Tortillas are done.
Tater tots might be ready.
Go ahead and take those out.
- Okay, is that good?
- Yeah, perfect.
We call that, uh, GBD.
Golden brown and delicious.
If tater tots was a class,
you'd get an A.
- Whoo!
- So let's take some
of your omelet training
with that scary chef.
- Lower your heat,
lower your heat.
Lower the heat.
Go faster now.
Mix it.
Stop it now.
Take off of the fire.
Take it off.
- Okay--what?
- We're gonna put a little bit
of butter in that omelet pan.
- I'm not even gonna ask how
many calories are in this.
- Probably not that much.
- The more, the merrier.
- Put the eggs in there.
- Okay.
- Probably like the scary chef
taught you,
start shaking the pan
and then swirling the eggs.
I like giving that chef
a hard time 'cause I know him.
Yeah.
- And then turn your flame off.
Perfect.
This is the last step now
before we build,
and we're just gonna heat
some of that short rib again.
And then once that's just kind
of warmed all the way through,
I'm putting all of my
ingredients on one plate here,
just so that I have everything
right in front of me,
'cause I'm gonna start building
the taco now.
- Is lunch served?
- Almost.
- So just lay out
three tortillas,
put meat on the bottom first.
- Oh, my gosh.
- What is it?
You cut yourself?
- How?
- I don't know.
Let me get you
something for it.
- Wait, sorry.
- It's all right--first aid.
- I didn't even know, though.
- Medic!
- Yeah, sometimes
you get nicked.
That's a part of cooking.
- Yeah, I kinda feel
like a badass.
- You're a badass.
This is a badass
milestone moment for you.
♪
Take two tater tots
and break them up.
Oh, my gosh,
those look great, Selena.
- I'm gonna show my friend
really quick.
I've been telling
all of my friends
that I've been doing this.
Out of everything
I've done in my career,
it's, like, this is the most
outstanding thing I've done.
- Dude.
- Yo.
Look, I wanted to show you.
- Kaelyn.
- Oh, my God, what is that?
- It's a
- Korean barbeque
Texas breakfast taco.
- Look, my grandparents
are here.
- Hi, Tay, how are you?
- Hi, good to see you guys.
- But literally, I've just been
making all of this,
and then I think we're
making doughnuts next.
- If you don't send me
the recipe,
we're gonna have words.
I wanna be served that.
- This is Taylor.
Do you know my friend Taylor?
- Taylor Swift, right?
Hey, Taylor.
- This my best friend Taylor.
- Hi, guys.
- I'm Roy, this is Kaelyn.
Kaelyn's freaking out
right now.
- I'm very jealous
of your whole setup
and the fact that you guys
are cooking together.
It's--it's pretty great.
I'm really envious.
- Yeah, it's
her love language, I think.
- We can eat it
right in front of you, too,
to make you even more jealous.
I just wanted to show you
because I'm so proud.
- We wanna eat.
- My Papa's like, "Can we eat?"
- Papa wants to eat.
- But I'm so excited.
- Oh, dude,
I'm so proud of you.
- Thank you.
- Do you know how long
I've been waiting for you
to become obsessed
with cooking?
- A very long time.
- I love you,
and I see that you have
people that you have to serve,
so that's important.
Um, nice to meet you guys.
- See you later.
- Bye.
- Bye.
- Love you.
- Bye, Taylor.
- Bye, I love you.
- She's, like, my big
cooking person, so, like,
it's a very big deal that
I'm learning how to cook.
- She must be so happy
and proud of you.
- It's good for our friendship.
- Yeah, for your friendship.
It's like
learning golf together.
- Golf?
- I don't know.
See?
None of my jokes hit.
That plate could go
on a food magazine.
Look at that.
- Yeah!
- Time to eat.
- I can't wait to taste.
- It's all in there?
- So it's all done?
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- Mmm.
- Oh, my gosh.
- This is so delicious.
- It's got so much flavor.
- So good, right?
- So good.
Wow.
- I'll give it an eight.
- I was gonna say ten.
- No, you guys say
one through five.
- Five.
- You guys like it?
- Five, for sure.
- Oh, my gosh.
- But I give it a ten.
- I got a ten
on a scale of five.
That sounds good.
- Love it.
- I'm so honored.
I think what we're gonna do now
is just clean up,
and we're gonna make dessert.
- Okay.
- Ooh ♪
So what, I messed it up ♪
I said too much,
I pushed my luck ♪
So what, I scream too loud,
I fooled around ♪
- Now, doughnuts!
- Hey.
- Hi, Roy.
- Hi, we're back.
We're gonna do something fun.
We're gonna make
Hawaiian doughnuts,
but from biscuit dough.
This is, like, a hack
that I learned a long time ago
from my boss when I first
became a hotel chef.
He's from Hawaii.
He said this is how they grew
up making malasadas in a pinch.
Let's get
our ingredients first.
We gotta get these biscuits.
- My Nana uses these
to make chicken and dumplings.
- Yes.
- It's really yummy.
- So then we're gonna have
sugar, sesame seeds,
and cinnamon.
That's all we need.
Oh, I love
that sugar container.
Thanks.
- So first, what we wanna do
is mix about--
- I'm so sorry, Roy, I--
one second.
Hey, I have to call you back.
I'm cooking.
All right, bye.
Sorry.
- It's okay.
- Cute boy.
- That was a cute boy?
You could take the call.
- Shh, shh.
Uh, who--wha--
what am I doing?
I just got, like
- Distracted right then.
- I gotta go.
What do I do?
- You're cooking.
- I know, but, like
- He's waiting.
- So put 1/2 cup of sugar
in a bowl
And then about
2 tablespoons of cinnamon,
ground cinnamon,
and about a tablespoon
of sesame seeds.
- Roy?
- Yeah?
- I grew up on these.
My mom used to make these.
- The biscuit dough doughnuts?
- They were so good.
- That's awesome.
And then we're gonna open
our biscuits.
- Oh, now, I hate that part.
- I know, me and my Nana
hate this part
'cause it pops.
- Oh, 'cause it pops.
I don't think
I'm doing it right, let's see.
- Did yours pop?
- Uh, I'm trying.
I think you're supposed
to turn it, right?
- I don't like it.
- I know, I don't either.
- I know, I-I'm having
the same problem.
Oh, there--there we go.
Whoo!
There.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
- Let's just try one
as a test, drop it in there.
And as soon as you drop it,
the oil should be bubbling.
- Okay, it's definitely
not enough.
- Oh, that's not bad.
Just keep the flame on,
medium to high.
Kinda move it around
a little bit,
but keep it
that same side down.
As it's getting golden brown,
the rest of the doughnut
is gonna kinda puff up.
Oh, look at that.
- Yum.
- But see, this is
the only tricky part,
is you want the oil hot enough
that it creates bubbling,
but you don't want it too hot,
that it cooks the outside
with the inside still doughy.
- Yeah, I think I've had
that problem
throughout this whole journey
of cooking,
as learning the how
to control the temperature
and the flame and all of that.
- Just always remember,
if things are too hot,
you turn them down.
If things are not hot enough,
you turn them up,
and if you remember that,
then you're good.
So you see how the biscuit--
like, mine is starting
to puff up really nice.
You see that?
- Okay.
- It should look like
two big chipmunk cheeks.
It does, right?
- Yeah.
- Yours looks great.
- But see, my mom,
when she would make them,
she'd cut a center out.
- Oh, and really
make the doughnuts.
We should--let's honor
your mom, let's do that.
- Sure.
- This is great.
Thank you so much.
- Yours kinda looks good,
so take it out.
Then you wanna just toss it
in the sugar
while it's still hot.
And really, really coat it.
Cover it like you're covering
yourself up in sand
at the beach,
and then shake it off.
Speaking of Taylor.
Sorry.
- And then
that's your malasada.
Now we're gonna make
Mom's doughnuts.
Just cut the center out
like this.
- Okay.
This is thick.
Okay.
- How's your oil?
Is it too high?
- I don't think so.
- And then it's kinda, like,
the beauty moment
of just watching food cook.
- This is the worst thing
you could've taught me.
- Oh, doughnut?
- This one,
I'm gonna make every day.
- All day, every day.
And remember
the sugar technique,
sand pile at the beach.
- Oh, my gosh.
- What?
- It smells so good.
- I know it.
- Wow, look at that.
You got skills on plating.
That's for real.
- Thank you.
- Cheers, again.
- Okay, it's time to try one.
- Oh, my gosh.
They're so good.
- Wow, this is amazing.
- Aww, these bring back
memories.
My childhood memories.
- Mm.
- That's so sweet.
- That's dangerous.
These are unbelievable.
Rate these.
- Five.
- Papa?
- Five.
- Yeah!
I haven't gotten
a solid five out of five,
not on both dishes.
- Oh.
- So this is pretty epic.
So every episode
that I've been doing,
I've been donating $10,000
to a charity
of the chef's choice.
So I would love
for you to tell people
a little bit
about the one you chose.
- We are donating
to a farm in Compton
called Alma Backyard Farms.
So it's inner-city farming
that really helps the youth
and the neighborhood eat well
and learn about growing,
and bring some nature
into their lives.
- This will be great.
And obviously, people can
find out more about it and
- Yeah, right here.
- Exactly, wherever it will be
on the screen.
- Just click right here.
- Underneath.
Roy, thank you so much.
We honestly had the best time.
- Send me one
of your doughnuts.
I wanna try it against hers.
Take it.
- Nice meeting you.
- Nice meeting you guys, bye.
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.